


Lost in Space... and Time.

by Dabberdees



Series: Old Friends Senior Companion Sanctuary [6]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: All the mind stuff here, Bill is the ultimate wingwoman, F/F, Gen, Graham and Twelve go on an adventure instead, Graham has a bad day and then it just gets worse, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Mind alteration, Thasmin the early days, Thirteen Ryan Yas and Bill have to figure out how to get this whole mess sorted out, cosmic horror, this is what happens when you write a fic and play bloodborne at the same time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-06 07:16:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17340992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dabberdees/pseuds/Dabberdees
Summary: When a wave of Chronon energy hits Graham, it transports him away from The Doctors TARDIS and replaces him with a person The Doctor knows. A person that really shouldn't be in her TARDIS and why doesn't she remember any of this happening?Meanwhile, Graham has woken up in a familiar looking ship with an angry Scotsmans boot firmly pressed to his chest and a "What have you done with Bill?" question directed at him.Part six of my series but this one is a fic.





	1. Chapter 1

The TARDIS is speeding through the Time Vortex, her occupants clinging upon the fixtures inside. “Come on old girl, you just need to out run it.” The Doctor is making her way around the console and ducking under a plume of smoke. “Come on.” She’s hitting different levers as she goes along.

“What is chasing us Doctor?” shouted Yasmin from her side of the room. “Is it like the Kerblam! Man?”

“No, I wish it was though, it’s Chronon energy. A type of radiation.” responds The Doctor, hitting the console with a mallet. Her expression one of extreme concentration. “It’s a little more volatile than Artron energy.”

“Radiation? That doesn’t sound good Doc.” yelled Graham, stuck between the doors and the console and trying to find something to hold onto.

The Doctor glances at him. “It’s not the same as your radiation on Earth. It’s linked to temporal anomalies. It’s perfectly safe for me but you humans shouldn’t touch it.” She stops suddenly, staring at the screens. “No, ah, grab hold of anything you can! It’s caught up to us!” She watches her Fam, Ryan and Yas, safe but her eyes go to Graham, urging him to grab something.

There’s a bright flash in The TARDIS, blinding everyone as they close their eyes. A few seconds go by as they’re using their arms to block the majority of the light. They hear Graham yell before being cut off by something hitting the TARDIS floor.

Ryan is first to open his eyes, the last thing he heard was his Grandad yelling before a crash. “Grandad? You alright?” He gets no response. “Yas? Doctor?” He’s stumbling to where he last saw Graham.

“I’m okay, Ryan.” responds Yas, rubbing her eyes. “Doctor?” She’s blinking her eyes, trying to make them clear.

“Here.” Yas looks towards her and sees she’s reading the displays but turns to face Ryan when she hears him yelp. She quickly makes her way over to him, to see what caused him to call out. Her eyes widen in shock. “Well that’s not Graham unless he’s suddenly changed into a girl our age.” She turns back to The Doctor. “Uh Doctor, you should come see this.”

The Doctor faces her friends. “What?” She makes her way over to them, pushing past them and stopping when she sees the body. “Oh.” mumbled The Doctor. The last time she saw her, she was made of glass and the previous time before that.. The Doctor closes her eyes, why does the universe have to torment her with reminders from the past?

“Doctor? Graham was stood right there, I don’t understand, who is this?” asked Ryan, walking towards the mysterious figure and kneeling down. “Wait, you said ‘temporal anomalies’.” His eyes widen when his brain registers what Yas just said. “It’s not changed him into her has it? As in it’s changed his body into that body, cause that’s not gonna be awkward calling a girl my age Grandad now.” He reaches for her neck and checks to see if she's alright. “There’s a pulse.”

The Doctor hasn’t taken her eyes from the prone form. Yasmin is watching her, concern growing. “Doctor?” probes Yas, walking towards her and gently touching her arm. “That’s isn’t Graham is it? She’s someone you know because you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The Doctor looks at her and nods her head slightly. “Who is it?”

“Someone who definitely shouldn’t be here…” The Doctor stops and her eyes widen. “If she’s here, then that means.. Oh no, why don’t I remember this?” She runs back to the display screens, quickly typing something in and groaning. “You’re both partially right, but it didn’t change his body, it swapped his body. Swapped his for hers.” She takes out her sonic and scans the body, confirming who it is and noticing the amount of Chronon energy on her.

Ryan looks back at her. “If that’s not him, then where has it sent him? And who is that?” He’s starting to panic now, he can’t lose Graham. Not after his Nan, not after he’s just accepted him as his Grandad.

“The same place she came from.” The Doctor has a far away look in her eyes. Ryan’s about to speak again but she beats him to it. “He’s safe, they’re both going to be confused though. I don’t know why I don’t remember this happening.” She’s running her hand through her hair.

Yas has a perplexed look on her face. “Doctor you’re not making any sense. You know where he is but you keep saying that you don’t remember this happening.” Ryan nods his agreement, standing up and facing The Doctor. “We’re a little lost.”

The Doctor looks at the two younger members of her Fam. “Remember when I said I was a white haired scotsman 30 minutes ago?” They look at each other before slowly nodding. “Well, that’s Bill.” She points to the unconscious girl. “And Graham, well he’s just landed in my TARDIS.”

“I don’t understand Doctor, is he safe ?” Frustration edging into his voice at the answers he’s getting, he just wants to know what happened to him.

The Doctor takes her eyes away from Bill again and looks towards Ryan, her eyes softening and knowing that he doesn’t mean the tone, he’s just worried. “He’s safe. He’s in the old version of my TARDIS, with the previous version of myself. I really need to explain regeneration to you.. But now is not the time.” They’re interrupted by movement behind them. They turn to watch Bill as she sits up slowly, looking at them all.

“Would anyone like to explain what just happened? I mean I’m not complaining, waking up to two women staring at you is a sight, no offense mate.” She looks at Ryan. “You’re not really my type, but I was with someone else, then there was this bright light and now I’m here.” said Bill, standing and stretching, before turning to take in her surroundings.

“Welcome to my TARDIS, Bill Potts.” said The Doctor stepping forward. “We’ve had a little accident.”

Bill turns quickly and stepping back, her eyes going wide. “Wait, are you The Doctor?”

“Yup, I’m The Doctor, well a version of The Doctor. Your version is The Eyebrows.” She tries to wiggles her eyebrows before frowning. “It was easier to do with the previous ones.”

“How are you the Doctor? I’m not complaining but, oh man, this is.. wow. “ Bill gestures towards her with her arm. “How are you him?”

“You know, I really should give you all a pamphlet on regeneration, I love pamphlets.” replied The Doctor, glancing back at Ryan and Yas before turning to look at Bill again. “Bill, it really is me, and I will figure out how to get you back to the other me.”

Bill breaths a little sigh of relief, this woman does sound like her Doctor. “But Doctor something tells me this isn’t a  _ little accident _ , how can you just take me from you?” She hesitates a bit. “That’s a confusing sentence to say”

The Doctor scrunches her nose and shakes her head. “Yeah, not little more like, pretty big” She gestures with her hands. “And I didn’t do this, the Chronon energy did. You see Bill, the reason you’re here is because you were hit by the same wave that Graham got hit by, he’s the person you swapped with. It brought you here, to my TARDIS and took him to your, well my old TARDIS.” The Doctor’s face takes a sudden turn. “Oh I hope they get along while I try and figure this out.”

“Why can’t you, I mean the other you help as well?” Asked Yas, this whole situation boggles her mind, but at least Graham is safe. Though she can feel a headache coming on.

“Because it affected my version of the TARDIS first, not his version. We have all the data on this side, all he has on his side is Graham.” explained The Doctor, seeing the hurt look on Ryan’s face. “No offence to Graham, of course Ryan, but.. He can drive a bus really well, and is fantastic at talking to people but he can’t work out how to fix temporal anomalies. They’ll just have to let me figure it out.” Ryan looks a little less offended on Graham’s behalf now.

“Why can’t you just land where he or you landed in the past?” questioned Ryan, leaning on the column behind him. “We could just swap over then.”

The Doctor shakes her head. “I said before, I don’t remember this, time does weird things to you, if I could then I would know how to fix it.” She says with a shrug. “Also, it’s not good to go bumping into yourself on purpose and it’s really not good trying to land The TARDIS next to The TARDIS. We really don’t need them crashing into each other right now.” She’s talking a mile a minute, while the three humans just stare at each other.

“So what are we gonna do Doctor? As fun as it would be travelling with you, I do want to get back to my Doctor.” said Bill, sticking her hands in her pockets.

“Yeah and I do want my Grandad back Doctor.” He looks towards Bill. “I’m not saying you’re not welcome here, cause you are, I’m just saying..” continued Ryan, looking a bit like a fish out of water.

“You travel with your Grandad?” asked Bill, an incredulous look coming to her face. “Seriously?” There’s a playful look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong with travelling with your Grandad? Graham is..” defended Ryan before Yas steps forward with a roll of her eyes.

“Ryan, quit while you’re ahead of yourself. She’s just winding you up.” said Yas, laughing. “What he means is we would like Graham back, he’s part of our Fam.” said Yas.

“Fam? Since when did The Doctor use the term ‘Fam’.” Bill glances at her, is this woman really her Doctor?

Yas realises they haven’t introduced themselves to her. “I’m Yasmin by the way. Or Yas to my friends. He’s Ryan and well, you know The Doctor.” The Doctor gives Bill a wave again.

“Nice to meet you. All of you, it’ll be nice to meet this Graham as well.” said Bill, smiling at them all before stepping closer to Yas and leaning in. “What’s it like travelling with this version? She seems a little more fun.” whispered Bill. “Not that mine isn’t fine, it’s just old Scottish bloke.. or younger woman.” She smirks.

“I can hear you Bill.” said The Doctor, not taking her eyes from the display screens. “And travelling with me is super fun, who took you to 1814 London. It was me, okay there was something eating people, oh and I punched a racist, shouldn’t be proud for that but I am.” She shrugs and looks up at Bill, a grin lighting up her face. She has missed her. Ryan and Yas exchange looks, The Doctor punched a racist? The old version is not this version at all.

Ryan, panic about losing Graham fading decides to drop The Doctor in it. “She accidentally kidnapped us and got us stuck in space without a suit or ship.” said Ryan, smirking to himself when he sees the look of outrage on The Doctor’s face.

Bill turns to face The Doctor as she marches over. “What is it with you and being suit less in space?” She’s looking into The Doctor’s eyes, making sure that she is in fact The Doctor and starts grinning before leaning in for a hug. “You know, I’m taller than you now.”

“Less of that.” said The Doctor hugging her back and closing her eyes. “I missed you Bill.” she mumbles. Her hearts break, she knows what is coming and although she knows Bill is with Heather and travelling the universe together, she still failed her. Let her get turned into a Cyberman by The Master. A very selfish part of her wishes never to let go, travel with her, Yas, and Ryan but she knows she can’t, she has to get Graham back, she can’t fail him as well.

The Doctor lets go of Bill and starts to program in a destination. “Right Fam, well what's left of it and Bill. Sheffield, Graham’s living room. I’ll be able to perform a more in depth scan when we're not flying through the time vortex. Hopefully we'll figure out the issues to our problems then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My plan is to switch the chapters between the two groups.  
> With the odd chapters being Thirteen and Friends and the evens being Twelve and Graham.  
> The Doc is Thirteen and The Doctor is Twelve. So it's easier to figure out who Graham is thinking/talking about.
> 
> This came from a bit of fanart I saw on Tumblr that had 12 and Graham stood next to each other and I went "Oh, that would've been a interesting companion Doctor set up."


	2. Chapter 2

Graham’s mistake was moving, he knows this, should’ve stayed where he was but he had to go and move. He watched as the Chronon energy raced towards him, the last thing he felt was TARDIS being pulled out from under him before hitting the floor hard. He curses before opening his eyes and yelping. This isn’t The Doc’s TARDIS and that man is definitely not her, before he has a chance to ponder it more the man has moved and placed a booted foot on his chest, winding him. Does he have to stand that hard?

“Who are you? And what have you done with Bill?” barked The Doctor as he takes out his sonic screwdriver and points it at Graham.

Graham stares at the man above him and tries to free himself from his boot, but to no avail. He sighs. “Look, mate, I have no idea who this Bill is. I don’t even know where I am.” He’s trying to look around the man, his eyes looking at the console and familiar lettering. “Hold up, that looks like the console and she has those circle thingys.” He turns to look back at the man. “Are you like her?” He looks at the device in the man hands. “And is that a sonic?”

The Doctor keeps his foot on the stranger, applying a little more pressure and smirking at the pained look on his face. How does this man know what a sonic screwdriver is? And more importantly, who is Her? For a brief moment he wonders if the man is talking about Missy. The Doctor scans the man, and his mind starts to wonder at the readings. “That’s impossible and highly dangerous, why are you covered in Chronon energy?” He’s human but covered in something that he really shouldn’t be. The Doctor narrows his eyes, maybe it is something to do with Missy after all.

Graham tries to move into a bit more of a comfortable position, which is hard when a boot is pressed to your chest. This is gonna hurt in the morning. “The Doc said Chronon radiation or something before I got zapped by it and sent here. I don’t know much more than that.” he looks at the man, trying to convince him that he generally doesn’t know what happened. “I’m being honest mate, I really don’t know. I was travelling with The Doc and now I’m here.”

The Doctor stares at him hard. “The Doc?” he narrows his eyes, he’s beginning to understand the situation now. So not Missy then, that’s a relief but now there’s even more questions.

“Yeah, The Doc, travels through space and time, in a ship called The TARDIS, talks a mile a minute. I take it you heard of her?” replied Graham, hoping that dropping the name may make this man take his boot from his chest. “I’m Graham O’Brien by the way. I would shake your hand but you’re kinda stood on me.” He gestures at the foot, wincing.

“Her? Oh no my good man. You see… I’m The Doctor.” said The Doctor with a flourish, before looking back down at him.

Graham takes the moment to actually look at the man before him. Ryan did tell him that The Doc said she was a white haired Scotsman 30 minutes ago, he didn’t believe him but now? It checks out. White hair, Scottish, man. “Ah, so you’re him then. The one before, she mentioned you to my Grandson, I never believed him but now.. Hello Doc.” He wheezes a bit from the pressure. “I really could do with you taking your foot off me, kinda hard to breath.”

The Doctor considers the man before him, human, late fifties, covered in Chronon energy and Artron energy, possibly telling the truth. He removes his foot and extends a hand out for the man to grab. The Doctor helps him to his feet and they stare at each other for a moment, daring the other to move first.

Graham looks away, the intensity of this Doctors eyes unnerves him. He glances around the room, recognising it and also seeing how alien and how much colder it looks than the one he knows. He turns back to The Doctor. “Let’s start again shall we?” said Graham, sticking his hand out. “I’m Graham O’Brien, Doc.”

The Doctor looks at the offered hand and takes it. “I’m The Doctor and if you’re going to be here I won’t have you calling me Doc. I can’t believe I let you call me Doc.” He releases the offered hand before walking uncomfortably close to Graham. “Why does she let you call her Doc?”

Graham shrugs, not willing to be intimidated by him. “Don’t know, she never told me not to.” responded Graham, rubbing his chest absentmindedly. “Can you get me back?”

“I need to know where Bill is first.” The Doctor leans closer and grabs Graham’s hand, pulling him over to the console and forcing his hand into a scanner.

“Oi, stop with the manhandling.” said Graham before looking at the scanner that his hand is in. “Hey, she doesn’t have one of these, got a custard cream dispenser instead.”

The Doctor turns his head back to Graham. “Seriously?" Graham nods. "Have I regenerated into a child?” Graham smirks at the outraged expression on his face and The Doctor ignores him before turning back to the display and groaning. “You were hit first. I don’t have the data on this side, I have nothing.” The Doctor closes his eyes and leans on the console. “Apart from having it confirmed that Bill was sent to my TARDIS in the future.” He looks back at Graham. “What did the energy look like on your end?”

Graham removes his hand from the scanner. “You’re asking the wrong guy, mate. Didn’t really pay attention, was too busy trying to not be blinded by it.” He notices the hand railings while looking around and turns back to The Doctor. “You have railings! My Doc, she doesn’t, gotta cling to the wall or console when travelling.”

The Doctor runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “Thank you Captain Obvious. Now stop pointing out the differences between our TARDIS’ and let me try and figure this whole mess out.”

Graham raises his hands in surrender and watches this Doctor work. He moves so much like his Doc, that he finds he’s just staring at him. He recognises the clothes he’s wearing, and how ruined they were when he met The Doc. “You’re wearing the same clothes as she was when I first met her.” He thinks back to that day, mind drifting to Grace before forcing the thoughts away. Not the time Graham, not here.

The Doctor stops and stares at him. “Don’t say anything else.” warned The Doctor, turning back to the console. “And stop it with the staring. I don’t need another Nardole, one is already enough.” He turns back to the displays. “Actually, speaking of Nardole, and it’s not often I ask this, but where is he?” asked The Doctor turning to look at Graham like he would know.

“You’re asking me like I who that is.” Graham has finally had enough of him and his attitude. “Look, will you tell me what you’re doing? I can’t just stand here until you or her figure it out.”

The Doctor sighs. “I’m not going to be able to figure it out on this end, I’ll just have to trust that my future version will be able to sort it all out. Hopefully she remembers how to fix it.”

Graham furrows his brows. “Why can’t you just drop me back off in Sheffield? I can give you the time and date.”

“It’s not as simple as that, we can’t just swap you and Bill over, if you’re covered in Chronon energy then that means she is as well.” explained The Doctor, stepping away from the console and leaning on the railings. Humans really do have pudding brains. “You two shouldn’t meet, the other me, she’ll need to figure out how to transport you both in the same manner as before and she’ll need to figure out a way to tell me the time and place.”

“So it’s not as simple as that then.” Graham can feel a headache, and he doesn’t think it’s just caused by the freaky alien energy. “Well then, what are we gonna do in the meantime?”

“What do you mean?” asked The Doctor, turning to look at him properly. He's a curious choice for a companion.

Graham gestures around The TARDIS. “Well we can’t just stay here while my Doc figures it out. I need regular meals and sleep.”

The Doctor walks back to the console, an idea forming. “How about a trip? I got a distress signal a while back, was a bit busy to deal with it there and then.”

“You left a distress signal go unanswered?” asked Graham, shocked that The Doctor would.

“We’re in a time machine, I can go there whenever I need to and I was busy with something else.” said The Doctor with a matter of fact attitude.

Graham sighs. “True, can’t argue with that logic.” The Doctor smirks at him, knowing he won that battle. Graham considered the idea of a trip with another version of The Doctor and figures he might learn a little more about her. He decides. “Alright then, lets go Doctor.” He holds onto the handy railings. His Doc should really add some, they're useful and safer.

The Doctor grins at Graham. He doesn’t usually have older companions, he’s taken older companions in the past but not in this version. This should prove to be an interesting adventure.

The Doctor pulls a lever sending them on an adventure that neither will forget, well The Doctor will, until they remember it in the future and that will be a shock for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back to Thirteen and friends next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for the Sixth Doctor book Spiral Scratch.

The TARDIS makes a swift landing in Graham’s living room, her occupants releasing the hold they have on the console.

“What happened to The TARDIS Doctor? It’s completely different.” Bill looks around the TARDIS again, noticing that this version of the console room feels warmer somehow. “How can your ship change as well?”

“Sometimes she feels like redecorating. I think she’s beautiful.” The Doctor pats the console and the humans hear a noise coming from the ship. The Doctor looks back up to Bill. “Not that she wasn’t beautiful before but this is nice.” She waves her hand around the room.

Yas smiles at The Doctors antics and she wonders if The Doctor and her amazing ship often talk to each other. Her thoughts drift to whether The TARDIS can hear her thoughts as well. She gazes into the central column, hopefully they don’t otherwise the ship will know how much she thinks about their alien friend, she feels a blush come to her face.

“So Doctor, how are you going to get Graham back?” asked Ryan.

She turns to face Ryan. “First I need to isolate the energy that’s on Bill. The reason why we can’t just swap Bill and Graham over is because..” The Doctor hesitates as she tries to figure out how to explain. “The energy is the same, it’s from two separate points in time but it’s the exact same. It latched onto the signal of my TARDIS and when it hit Graham it created a fixed connection to him. Having them be near each other would force the energy to join back together again and you really don’t want that.” She pulls a face. “That would be bad.”

“Okay, yeah don’t want that.” He definitely doesn’t want that, the thought causing him to feel sick. After a moment he speaks up again. “I get that it hit him and sent him there, but why? Why did it bring Bill here? It’s not like they’re the same person, whereas your ships are the same.”

“No, not the same person but Bill.” She gestures to her. Bill looks up at the mention of her name. “And Graham, they’re both human. Chronon energy is connected to my own people, we’re sorta sustained by it.” They watch The Doctor as she walks around the TARDIS, hands gesturing as she talks. “My Sixth self encountered a Lamprey who wanted to feed on it...” The Doctor stops suddenly, mentioning it causes her to think back on it. The Lamprey!

“Doctor?” Bill looks back at Ryan and Yas, concern on her face. “Are you alright?” She’s staring straight ahead before looking back at Bill and smiling.

“I think I just worked out where it came from.” She runs back to the display screens and types in something too fast for the humans to see before looking back up at them and grinning. “The Lamprey in question, they were burned up by absorbing too much Chronon energy.” She’s focusing intently on her friends. “And it seems when the Lamprey burned, a remnant of the energy was sent back into the Time Vortex, you see the Lamprey, they lived in the Time Vortex. I think the Chronon energy was just making its way back home, back to the TARDIS that it came from, which is mine. Only..” the Doctor pauses, thinking of a way to explain it again. “It has been degrading over time and when it got here it latched onto the first thing it could and that was Graham.”

“So why did it send him over there and bring Bill here?” questioned Ryan.

“Working on that Ryan, but at least we know where it came from. So that’s part of the battle, I’m going to need to get a few things from Graham’s kitchen.” She runs from The TARDIS, with Yas following behind her.

“Doctor, please don’t destroy the house. I won’t hear the end of it from Graham.” yelled Ryan, before chasing after them. Bill shakes her head in amusement before following at a slower pace.

 

Bill closes the door and hears a muffled “I just need the kettle for the moment.” from what she thinks is the kitchen before turning her eyes to Ryan. He’s stood in the middle of the living room with his head turned and looking at the mantelpiece. She follows his gaze and sees a picture with two people on it. Smiling and happy.

“Is that Graham?” Bill gestures to the man on the photo as she walks up to him. “Who’s is the other person?”

He takes the picture and looks at it. “That’s my Nan.” His fingers trace her face on the photo. Bill can tell that it’s a sore subject when he doesn’t add anything else.

“The Doctor is good, she’ll get him back.”

Ryan sighs. “I know she will and I know she won’t stop trying.” He puts the photo back. “When I lost my Nan, I thought I didn’t have anyone left. That it was just me and her husband Graham in this house together but it isn’t now, he’s my Grandad and I don’t want to lose him like I lost her.”

Bill reaches out and places a hand on his shoulder and smiles sympathetically. He looks at her and she can see his pain behind his eyes. “How about we go and check what The Doctor and Yas are up too? If she’s anything like mine, she’ll have taken that kitchen apart by now.”

“Oh man, she better not. Graham is usually the one to stop her from dismantling things, you know she broke his chair when she first landed here and then blamed him for it? You should’ve seen the look on his face.” Bill smirks internally, the distraction from worrying about his Grandad worked.

 

Yas is following The Doctor and watches as she picks up the kettle. She hears Ryan yelling after them.

“I just need the kettle for the moment.” responds The Doctor back at him before turning it upside down, sending water all over the floor. “Right kettle, contains water. I might’ve forgot in my excitement.” She looks at the water on the floor.

Yas shakes her head in mirth before grabbing a towel. “I’ll clean it while you do whatever you are doing.” After a moment her curious nature wants to know. “What are you doing with it anyway?”

The Doctor looks down at her. “I need some of the components from it. I want to build something that’ll keep track of the energy in Bill, maybe lock it in place. It won’t harm her but I can’t have it leaving her.” She’s taking the wiring out from the bottom, before placing it on the side and picking up the plug.

Yas finished cleaning up the water and stands up, that’s the first she’s heard about the energy possibly leaving Bill. “So why do you need to keep track of it and wouldn’t it be a good thing for it to leave her?”

“If the energy leaves Bill I won’t have anything to link back to Graham, in a way they’re still connected. When it hit Graham first.” She stops taking the plug apart to look at Yas. “Basically it’s saturated his body and merely touched Bill, it will fade from her over time, can’t really survive on its own. It’ll stay with him longer though, I need to get him back and remove it.” She doesn’t say much else before looking back at Yas. “I didn’t want to say this in front of Ryan.”

Yas thinks over what The Doctor just said and nods, yeah not good to cause Ryan unnecessary worry when they can avoid it. “So what you’re saying is that we’re on a time limit, once it fades from Bill then you won’t be able to connect it back to Graham. He’ll be stuck with the past you.”

“10 points to you Yasmin Khan, you’re leading by the way.” She smiles before turning back to the plug. “It would be easier if I could remember how I fixed it in the first place.”

“I believe you will, I mean if you didn’t fix it Bill would’ve never got back to your old self, would she.” The Doctor turns back to Yas, her face lighting up at the faith she has in her.

“I won’t stop trying until I get the third member of our Fam back. Don’t tell him he’s the third though.” Yas agrees, they’ll never hear the end of it.

“You know he’ll be mad about the kettle, he was about the chair..”

The Doctor looks a little sheepish, she really needs to replace that chair. “But he’ll be back, I might need a bit more than the kettle though.” Her eyes start looking over the kitchen. “Probably a lot more than the kettle. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

They stay in a comfortable silence, with Yas watching The Doctor work, a small smile on her face. She’s amazed how energetic she can be, running from place to place and also how careful and gentle she can be. A few minutes pass before The Doctor places down the thing she’s built and starts to rifle through the draws.

“What are you looking for Doctor?” Yas is already moving to help her look.

“I need a something long and metal, preferably made from Sheffield Steel. It’ll work better with my sonic.”

Yas walks towards the cutlery draw and pulls out a butter knife and handing it over to The Doctor. “Will that do?”

The Doctor takes it and nods. “I’ll need a few of these.” Yas takes them all out and says a quick sorry to Graham before handing them over to The Doctor. He really isn’t going to be happy.

“Brilliant Yas, I’m going to head back to The TARDIS now, need to make these into rods.” She looks at Yas, her eyes lingering on her face before gently touching her arm and leaving the room. Yas is watching the retreating form of The Doctor before hearing her talking to Ryan and Bill in the living room. She checks her watch and sighs, she’s got work tomorrow, better get home.

 

Ryan and Bill move into the hallway from the living room doorway and look down into the Kitchen, watching Yas and The Doctor talk to each other. They watch as Yas stares at her and Bill smiles to herself.

“They like each other but they’re too hopeless to see it themselves.” revealed Bill to Ryan.

He glances at her and smiles. “Me and Graham have a bet going, I reckon Yas will make the first move. He reckons The Doctor will. They think we don’t notice, but we’re stood there while they just lean into each other. It’s like we’re invisible.”

“Maybe it’s divine intervention.” Ryan raises his eyebrow at her confused. “Send a lesbian to help two others realise their feelings for each other.”

His brain catches up to him. “Oh earlier, when you said I’m not your type. It makes sense now.” He laughs before looking back at the kitchen. He sees Yas taking the knives out and handing them to The Doctor, Graham will not like this. He quickly wonders if it is a good idea to hand knives to The Doctor. He smiles and shakes his head and looks back at Bill. “Well if divine intervention is why you’re here can you make sure Yas is the first to act? I want to win that bet, got a lot of money riding on it now.”

They’re spooked by the sudden voice of The Doctor coming from behind them. “Ryan, Bill, why are you leaning out the door like that?” She looks at them puzzled before shrugging. “Doesn’t matter, Bill I need you to come back into the TARDIS with me. I want to run a test on the energy within you.” She takes her hand and leads her back into The TARDIS leaving Ryan by himself in the living room.

Yas comes back in a few minutes later and mentions that she needs to go home, got work tomorrow. She pokes her head back into the TARDIS and yells a quick bye to Bill and The Doctor before leaving for her block of flats.

Ryan is left alone in the living room by himself, his eyes travel to the picture again and he sighs before heading upstairs. He lingers by Graham’s room but he doesn’t enter, wouldn’t want to invade on his space. He rests his hand on the door, missing him and his Nan. No, he’s not gone like she is, The Doctor will get him back. She has too. He heads into his own room and tries to get some sleep, travelling in The TARDIS is great but it really does mess with your body clock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back with Graham and Twelve next.  
> Hint to the trip they're going on: There was an episode of Babylon 5 that had Marcus and Franklin go on a mission together, there were some faked documents. That's the bit I borrowed, everything else is my own.


	4. Chapter 4

Graham feels the TARDIS land, the ride feels smoother with railings. He lets go of them before walking over to The Doctor and looking over his shoulder. “So what was this distress signal?” asked Graham.

The Doctor looks at him. “It was less of a distress signal. More of a frantic call to the authorities on Tharus.”

“What did it say?” questioned Graham, realising that listening in on the galactic equivalent of a 999 call is a massive breach of privacy but damn, he’s intrigued now.

“The caller, she said her daughter and son-in-law went missing from a hotel on the moon of Tharus. Now, usually I wouldn’t go to every case of missing persons.” Graham narrows his eyes at him, making him stop. “Oh don’t look at me like that, it isn’t physically possible, do you know how many people go missing each day?” Graham shakes his head, point taken. “Carrying on then, the call mentioned that they aren’t the first to go missing from this supposed hotel.”

Graham inclines his head in thought. “What did the authorities on Tharus do about it?”

“Nothing, they seemed to not take it seriously. Told her to stop calling.” The Doctor shrugs, turning and walking towards The TARDIS doors. “I have the location of the call.” Graham follows behind him.

 

The Doctor and Graham find themselves stood in a plaza, people going about their daily lives. The Doctor marches off in a direction, not waiting to see if Graham is following him. Graham sighs. “You never do stop moving, no matter what you look like.” mumbled Graham before jogging to catch up to The Doctor. “I take it you know where you’re going?”

“Of course I do, who do you take me for?” replied The Doctor in a curt manner. They move on in silence.

Graham is hanging a bit further back from The Doctor, lost in his own thoughts of trying to read the man walking in front of him. He snaps, insults and speaks to you like you’re nearly too stupid to breath by yourself. So unlike The Doc he knows, she rarely makes him feel daft for asking a question or at least she doesn’t mean to do it, this version though, doesn’t seem like he cares. His thoughts drift to his The Doc and that brings his mind to Ryan, he hopes that Ryan isn’t too worried about him. It’s his job to worry about him, made a promise to Grace that he’ll keep him safe. At the thought of Grace, Graham shuts his eyes briefly, willing the thoughts about her to go, he doesn’t need to do this now, especially not in front of this Doctor. He briefly wonders why his Doc never seemed to recognise him, he met her past self so why didn’t she know him? Did she always know Grace was going to die and she didn’t mention it or stop it? He starts to unintentionally trail behind, thoughts turning dark.

The Doctor notices that he isn’t keeping up and turns slightly to watch the man behind him, he has a far away look on his face. Too absorbed in his own thoughts to pay attention to what’s going on around them. He can tell something is up, he never stopped pointing out the differences back on the TARDIS, now he isn’t even looking at the surrounding area. The Doctor sees the pain in Graham eyes and knows that look all too well. He sees it in his own eyes when he’s alone.

The Doctor stops quickly, making Graham walk into him. Graham jumps back and starts frowning at him. “Why did you stop?”

“You’re loudly thinking, I can’t concentrate when you’re doing that.” The Doctor points at Graham’s face. “That thing you do with the eyes, how do you humans do it?” The Doctor takes a step towards him. “There’s more to you, I see it behind your eyes. Something happened.”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your concern, or your business.” Graham bites back at him. “You’re not even my Doc.” As soon as those words leave his mouth he regrets it, sees the quick hurt look in The Doctor's eyes before it’s replaced by a cold one.

“It’s my problem when it affects the people I’m travelling with and I need them at their best.” snapped The Doctor, closing the gap between them further. “I’ve got a duty of care to all of you.” Graham is rooted on the spot, as this Doctor stands in front of him. “So no, I might not be _your Doctor_ but at this moment in time you’re my _responsibility_ and if you can’t cope I will take you back to The TARDIS and we can wait for _your Doctor_ to fix this.”

Graham stares at him hard, realising he misread him completely. This Doctor snaps, insults and seems callous but he isn’t, he cares too much. Hides it all behind a hard front. He stares into the eyes of the man in front of him. “Why didn’t you recognise me?” whispered Graham.

The Doctor wasn’t expecting a question like that. “What do you mean?”

“When I first met you, well the other you. You showed no recognition of me at all, like I was a stranger to you but if I’m meeting you now, then you surely would’ve remembered me?” explained Graham. He wants to add “You could have found a way to save Grace.” but he doesn’t, he knows he shouldn’t. Fixed point in time is what The Doc said.

“There could be any number of reasons why I didn’t recognise you. I could list the first 50 now if you want.” said The Doctor in earnest. Graham nods accepting the answer for the moment. “Anyway, we have a reason why we came here.” He gestures for Graham to follow him, eager to get on with it. He seems a little more open again, taking the time to look at the sights as they walk to the location.

 

It’s not long before they’re standing before a lonely looking house, one light on and the garden overgrown. Graham has a dubious look on his face. “You sure this is the place?”

“Positive.” The Doctor walks into the garden with Graham shrugging and following behind.

The Doctor steps towards the front door and knocks, they wait for a while and after a moment they hear it being unlocked. A woman pokes her head out and stares at them.

“Who are you?”

The Doctor flashes her a smile and whips out his psychic paper, her eyes flick to it. “I’m The Doctor and this is Graham.” Graham gives her a wave.

She narrows her eyes as she reads the psychic paper. “Private investigators? You’ve not come to laugh, call me crazy like all the others?”

Graham walks forward, a look of shock on his face. “Why would we do that? You called for help and we’re here now.” He smiles at her and her gaze softens.

“You would be the first to believe me, they all either tell me to leave it alone or that I’m crazy but something is going on in that hotel.” She steps aside and waves The Doctor and Graham into her house. “ I’m Alaina.” She watches them walk into her house.

Graham heads over to look at the pictures on the mantelpiece and he sees that in a pride of place is a beautiful picture of a young woman, her arms around a young man. “Her name is Adriana.” Alaina answers his unspoken question. “And she wouldn’t just disappear.” Graham looks back at the women but his eyes catch The Doctor putting on sunglasses inside. He shakes his head, he’ll ask him about that later if he has the chance to.

Graham turns his attention away from The Doctor and back to the Alaina. “When did they go missing?”

“Three months ago, but more have disappeared since.” She heads over to a cabinet and pulls out a folder. “I dug around and found more cases that went unanswered.” She goes to hand it to Graham but The Doctor heads over quickly and takes it from her hands, he starts looking through it. “That has the names of everyone that has gone missing. You'll notice it’s increasing.” said Alaina towards The Doctor.

The Doctor makes a noise of frustration before snapping his head back up at Alaina. “There’s no pattern, are you sure this is everything?” He hands the folder to Graham to hold. Graham rolls his eyes taking the folder, the glorified gopher that he is.

“It is, it took a while to collect but couples have been going missing for years and no one seems to care about it.” Graham watches her closely and he sees her emotions coming through as she dabs her eyes. “I just want my Adriana back.” Graham reaches an arm around her in a comforting manner and she mumbles a small thank you.

“Well, it’s been three months she's probably...” Graham coughs, attracting The Doctors attention. The Doctor watches his face as he gives a “ _Finish that sentence here and I will hit you._ ” expression. Deciding to get on with the mystery and not get hit The Doctor turns back to Alaina. “Well, we’ll to look into this for you.” He flicks his eyes to Graham. “Come along Graham, much to do.”

Graham sighs and starts to follow The Doctor but he feels a hand on his arm pull him back. “Make sure no one else has to suffer what I have gone through. Please.” He nods at her and leaves her alone to her grief.

He exits her house and sees The Doctor waiting for him at the end of the garden. “We need to go back to The TARDIS and head to the hotel, I have an idea.” said The Doctor as Graham joins him at the end of the garden.

Graham takes The Doctors arm, making him look at him in confusion. “Could you be a little bit more sensitive to people and their feelings Doctor? You were just about to tell her that her daughter isn’t coming back like it was nothing.” said Graham in an exasperated tone.

The Doctor stares at him before pulling his arm free. “I don’t have time to mollycoddle. People are going missing and I wouldn’t be wrong in assuming that she’s not coming back.”

“But you don’t need to spell it out for her, she already knows.”

“We’re wasting time here discussing it.” The Doctors starts walking away.

“Didn’t you say earlier that _you’re in a time machine and that you can go there whenever you want to_?” The Doctor turns back to look at Graham as he says it in air quotes. He sees the smug looking grin on Graham’s face and groans.

“Don’t quote myself back at myself.” The Doctor swiftly turns away. “TARDIS, now.” yelled The Doctor over his shoulder. Graham walks behind him, smug in the knowledge that he one upped The Doctor this time.

 

They’re walking back to The TARDIS. The Doctor is silent while Graham looks through the folder. Pointing out the differences. The Doctor lets him chat in the background while he thinks the mystery over.

“Some of these go back years Doctor.” said Graham loudly as he points to a couple from four years ago. “And look at these two, they’re nothing like Adriana and her husband. They were  retirees celebrating their 50th anniversary.” Graham gestures to another few. “The people going missing, the only thing they all have in common is the fact that they’re married.” He points to a few different ones. A pair of men smiling in their picture, two women in another. One has three people in it. “I don’t understand, why is it married people?”

The Doctor glances at him and the folder. “We won’t know down here.” They’re near The TARDIS now. “It’s why we’re going up there to pay them a visit.” The Doctor opens the doors and gestures for Graham to enter before following behind.

The Doctor heads over to the console and starts inputting coordinates into the display screens. Graham feels The TARDIS take off, he stumbles a bit before feeling it land again. “She doesn’t like short jumps like that.” Graham watches as this Doctor pats the console and smiles, well their love for their ship hasn’t changed that’s for sure.

The Doctor turns to face Graham. He’s not sure if the man in front of him will go for his plan, but it’s the only one that will get them directly into the mystery. “We need to get into the Hotel.” said The Doctor.

Graham goes over the options in his head quickly, while The Doctor looks at him, deep in thought. “We could get jobs?” suggested Graham before remembering Kerblam! “But I’m not being a maintenance man again Doctor.” He shudders, might not have been for long but he’s not getting roped into cleaning the gents again.

“That’s not what I have planned.” said The Doctor continuing to look at him in that unnerving way.

“What have you got planned then? How are we going to get in there if we’re not getting jobs.” Graham thinks about it a bit more. “Are we going in as guests?” asked Graham while The Doctor looks him up and down. “Why are you staring at me Doctor?” He’s a little unnerved now.

“Graham O’Brien.” The Doctor pauses as Graham listens intently. “Will you marry me?”

Graham stares long and hard at The Doctor. “What?” He splutters, he definitely wasn’t expecting that from The Doctor. “What?” he asks again, a little bit more clearly.

The Doctor rolls his eyes. “Not literally.” Graham gives him a confused look. Ah Humans, incredible but their brains are like custard while his is a running River… he stops on the word River.

Graham watches as The Doctor pauses he’s about to speak up again but The Doctor snaps out of whatever that was and beats him to it. “The best way to get to the bottom of this mystery is to become a part of it. They target married people, it’s the logical conclusion. We pretend to be married.” Graham finally understands what he’s getting at now.

“We’ll be painting ourselves as targets.” Graham adds, pretending to be married to him doesn't bother him at all, he's a 21st century man after all. He's more concerned about the trouble they'll be in if it goes south. “We’ll be in danger” The Doctor just grins at him. He can't believe he's even considering this idea. “This wouldn’t be the first time I had to pretend to be married to you, you know.” The Doctor raises an eyebrow. “Hopefully there isn’t.. Doesn’t matter, you shouldn’t know about your future.”

There’s a moment when The Doctor waits for Graham to decide, he isn’t going to push the man into an action. Graham looks back at The Doctor. “I guess the answer is yes.” He shakes his head at the absurdity of the situation. “I will marry you.” Wherever Grace is, he knows she’s laughing at him. “But we’re being called Mr and Mr O’Brien.”

It’s The Doctors turn to splutter now. “Why are we taking your name, what’s wrong with mine?”

Graham just gives him a look and sighs. “I’m not being called Mr Doctor, it sounds ridiculous.”

There’s a mirth in his eyes as The Doctor regards the human. “Fine.” The Doctor snaps. “Mr O’Brien it is.” replied The Doctor before stalking away and heading further into The TARDIS.

Graham smirks at his disappearing back, point two to him. He’s winning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would've had this up sooner but I've been a bit busy with work and other IRL stuff.  
> I made them bicker like an old married couple so why not make them pretend to be an old married couple.  
> You know at some point I probably will make them talk about their wives. It's why it's such an interesting concept of them together to me because they're alike. I kinda wish Graham was a Twelfth companion just for that.


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor has dragged Bill into the medical bay and asked her to sit on the alien looking bed while she fiddles around with whatever she is doing. Bill is watching The Doctor as she concentrates on building her contraception.

“Seriously Doctor, what are you doing?”

She looks up at Bill, welding mask covering her face. “I’ve melted these knives down into rods, need to stick them into the machine I’ve built.”

“And what will this ‘ _machine’_ do?” said Bill using her hands in quotation marks.

The Doctor turns her head back to work. “It’s to keep track of the energy inside you, need to know what it is doing.” She fiddles with the mysterious machine, sticking a rod in one end. “It’s not dangerous, well not to you, there isn’t enough of it to worry about.” She uses her sonic to connect it all together and grins when she completed it. "One Chronon Energy detector created. Or CED if you want to make it into an acronym."

 Bill eyes the machine with apprehension, seeing the remains of a kettle and what looks to be a phone on it. “What did you use to build it?”

The Doctor looks at the machine in her hand. “I needed something to read the results, this was Ryan’s old phone, grabbed it on the way to the medical bay.” She points at the phone. “I might’ve broke it a little at the time but in my defence I really needed it.” She watches as Bill shakes her head with a smile on her face. “It's alright though, I took him to the future, let him pick a brand new model but don’t tell anyone he has it!”

Bill raises her hands. “I won’t, trust me. Who am I gonna tell?”

The Doctor inclines her head in agreement. She looks back up at Bill and rests a hand on her arm. “It won’t hurt at all. I promise, I just need to scan you quickly.” She smiles at Bill, her face slightly covered in soot from the welding.

“I trust you Doctor.” replied Bill, looking around the medical bay again. “What do I need to do?”

“Just stay still while I scan you.” The Doctor moves off to the side and starts up the machine, it makes a low humming as she brings it closer to Bill, the sound increasing the closer it gets to her. She removes the device after a moment and frowns. “Well, it’s what I thought.”

Bill takes her eyes from the readings on the screen, not that she understood them anyway. “What do you mean?”

“The energy is leaving you, slowly but it is leaving, I estimate a few weeks and it'll be completely gone. I’ll need to let it go over the results fully though to confirm.”

“That’s good then, right? It’s sorting itself out.” Bill looks hopeful at The Doctor while she shakes her head.

“Unfortunately, it's not that simple, if the energy leaves you completely then I won’t be able to get Graham back.” explained The Doctor, looking up at Bill again.

“But if it leaves me completely, then we could in theory make the swap? No energy to snap back into each other.” suggested Bill.

The Doctor scrunches her nose as she bends down to check on the machine. “Graham will have too much on him, it’ll take years to fade from him.” She sighs at the results and looks back at Bill. “Chronon energy to humans, for a short amount of time is fine. Anything longer and I don’t know, it could kill him, change him, get him lost in time.” She runs her hand through her hair. “Without him being here I just don’t know, that’s why we need to make the swap. I have a duty of care to him.” She doesn’t add, like I had a duty of care to you even though she wants to. Her hearts break, knowing that by making the swap, she’s condemned Bill to her fate.

Bill notices the far away look on her face. “So we make the swap then, if you, me, Ryan, and Yas all work on it then I’m sure we’ll do it.” The Doctor smiles back at her, the pain still behind her eyes though. This version is a lot easier to read Bill thinks to herself and she wonders where she is in this versions future, surely she wouldn’t have stopped travelling with The Doctor, would she? She decides to let that thought sit in her head, rather than mention it at the moment.

The Doctor looks back down at the machine she made. “I’m going to let it condense the readings, should only take a few hours. In the meantime I’m going to need to make something else to try and stem the flow of energy leaving you. I need it to make the swap.” She’s already making her way from the medical bay. Bill hops off the bed to follow, this version has shorter legs but she still manages to keep a fast pace.

Bill has caught up to her now and she looks back down at The Doctor and has an idea forming in her head. “So, while you take apart another one of this Graham’s possessions, why don’t you tell me about your new friends?” The Doctor looks back up at her. They have entered the console room now and are nearly at The TARDIS doors.

“What do you want to know?” asked The Doctor, holding the door open for Bill.

“How did you meet them all?” said Bill, watching as The Doctor walks out, stares around the room before grinning when she spots a radio. She kneels in front of it.

Bill watches The Doctor move around the room. “I might not know this Graham, but didn’t Ryan say he’s going to be mad that you took apart his stuff? I heard about the chair.” said Bill, from The TARDIS doors.

The Doctor looks offended at the mention of the chair incident. “How do you know about that?” Bill smirks at her. “Not important at the moment.” She sighs, she knows she is technically breaking Graham’s trust in her. She’ll make sure she replaces everything she takes apart, a trip to the planet IKEA will be good for all of them. After a moment, while she takes the cover off the radio she looks up at the picture on the wall, the one of Grace and Graham. “I fell into their lives.” She glances back at Bill. "Literally."

Bill sits down on the sofa as she watches The Doctor. “When you say literally, I take it you mean literally.” The Doctor nods her head and makes a noise of confirmation. “Do I want to know how?”

“Fell out the TARDIS.” said The Doctor, like she was simply explaining falling out of bed.

“You what?” yelps Bill.

The Doctor is focusing on taking apart the radio as she replies. “It was fine, I was still regenerating.” The Doctor goes on to explain how she met them without giving too much away. She doesn’t want to risk any of it getting back to her past self, not that she doesn’t trust Bill, it’s just a paradox waiting to happen if she knew about Grace dying beforehand. She would’ve done her best to stop that from happening. Her thoughts drift back to Graham, hoping he doesn’t blame her, doesn’t think she knew Grace was going to die.

“So you fell into their lives then.” Bill leans forward a bit. “Why don’t you tell me about them?”

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at her. “Ryan and Yas are here, you could talk to them?”

“I want to hear it from you.”

The Doctor thinks it over for a moment. “They helped me, they didn’t need to but they did. Ryan is brilliant, he always tries, even when he doesn’t think he can do something, he’ll give it a go.” She smiles back, remembering him going up on the hill after Grace died, learning to ride the bike by himself. She carries on. “Graham, I’m not sure you’ll ever get the chance to meet him but he’s kind, a bit slower than the others and myself, he’s cautious but is always there to offer advice, he’s Ryan grandad but he’s also special to Yas and myself.” She promises to herself that she’ll get him back and promises to Ryan and to Grace as well. “And then Yas.” Bill notices the smile that lights up her face at the mention of the name. “She’s fantastic, she has a very bright future ahead of her and is always up for the thrill of adventure. She’s caring, intelligent, there’s a curious nature to her as well.” She looks back at Bill and sees the massive grin on her face. “Why are you looking at me like that?” asked The Doctor suddenly suspicious.

“You like her.” explained Bill.

“I like them all.” said The Doctor confused.

“Yeah you might like them all, but you like Yas in another way.” Bill doesn’t let the grin drop from her face. “You’re so hopeless, you don’t even realise.”

The Doctor’s brain catches up to what Bill is saying and she splutters, dropping the radio back onto the table. “No, that’s not right, I like her as a friend.” But her mind wanders away, thinking back to all the times that she stood near her, grabbed her hand, and trusted her with tasks. Even the private flying lessons, she even saved the last custard cream for her once, the last thought being Najia, she asked if they were dating. The Doctor groans, maybe Bill is right but she can’t do this now, not again. “Even if you’re right Bill, I’m not sure I can do it again.” responded The Doctor quietly. “I don’t even know if she would even consider it.”

Bill sighs. “Trust me, the way she looks at you, she adores you.”

The Doctor turns back to the radio in question. “Anyway, that’s not important at the moment. We gotta get Graham back.” Bill can tell that the conversation is over for now.

A few minutes pass with Bill watching her work. “Doctor?” The Doctor mumbles a response. “Is my room still in the TARDIS?”

“Should be, the rooms can be infinite, just gotta ask for the right thing when you enter.” Bill looks a bit confused. “You read Harry Potter before?” Bill nods. “Well it’s like the room of requirement, ask where you want to be lead and she’ll show you the way, that’s if she likes you enough not to make you take the long way round. You'll get where you need to go in the end though.” The Doctor thinks back to Clara, her and The TARDIS didn’t have the best relationship in the beginning. The TARDIS always lead her to the broom closet before showing her the correct way.

Bill stands up and yawns, travelling in time makes it so easy to forget when you last slept properly. “Well, if you don’t need me anymore I’m going to try and get some sleep. It's been a while since the last time. I'll see you later alright Doctor, don't think our conversation from earlier is over though.” She smiles back at The Doctor and walks into the TARDIS leaving The Doctor by herself.

The Doctor places the radio back down on the table and stands up. She looks at the pictures on the mantelpiece and picks up the same one that Ryan did, tracing her finger over Graham. She knows she will get Graham back, or hopes she does, just because she lived through this happening before, even if she can’t remember it, doesn’t mean she’ll be able to figure it out. She’s about to put the photo back down when a pain fills her head, one word coming to mind. _Tharus_ . She stumbles and knocks into the mantelpiece, blinking in surprise. She remembered doing something with Graham on _Tharus_. She looks back down at the picture in her hand, something about that picture jogged her memory, she just wonders if she’ll remember more about it in the long run. She places the picture back, giving it one last look before kneeling back down to the radio, determination set in, she gets to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't decide which side I like writing more.  
> This is fun but Graham and Twelve is fun as well.  
> Back with them next!


	6. Chapter 6

Graham follows after The Doctor and watches as he packs alien looking equipment into a case. It’s a strange feeling really, being in this TARDIS. Gone is the warm orange colour and crystal aesthetic, or maybe it’s the other way round, his version of The TARDIS is in the future after all. It’s a bit confusing, he thinks to himself. This leads him on to thinking how The Doctor in front of him became his Doc. Graham cocks his head to the side in thought, they both mentioned something about regeneration before, well whatever that is.

The Doctor stops when he feels Graham watching him. He turns back to the human man. “You have a question.”

Graham stands upright, knocked from his musings. “Nah, not really. More of a thought.” The Doctor doesn’t look away and he sighs. “You know, I was just wondering how you became, well her. She always said about being a man, or referencing things from the past, didn’t really believe her until now.” He gestures towards The Doctor.

The Doctor turns back to what he was doing, a thought coming to him about his future self. “Doesn’t seem like she explained much to you.”

Graham frowns. “I’m sure she has her secrets, as I have mine.” he replied, it’s true though, she hasn’t explained much about her past but he trusts her and if she doesn’t want to speak about it, then he ain’t gonna push her.

The conversation lulls for a bit with that statement. The Doctor wonders what he means by that, regardless he’s got more pressing concerns at the moment. He does decide to try and explain regeneration to the human man as he’s collecting the equipment he’ll need though. “There’s a trick us Time Lords can do, it’s a way to cheat death. Handy, but you change, a new person goes sauntering away and everything that you were is gone.” He remembers his Tenth self, quite young compared to his other faces, he didn’t want to go and then the one after, his Eleventh, the old man in the young body. He was ready to die, the last regeneration before he was gifted another cycle, gifted or cursed, he hasn’t decided yet. He doesn’t add anything else, surely his future self would’ve explained this to him? Unless he regenerated alone, which leads him in to thinking where Bill is in the future.

Graham walks forward and comes to a stop by The Doctor, wanting to change the topic when he sees the far away look in The Doctors eyes. “Why are you bringing that stuff, whatever it is, with you anyway? Can’t you just land The TARDIS in our room?” He’s pointing to the equipment.

The Doctor sighs. “I can’t land The TARDIS there, can’t have the cleaning staff gossiping about a Blue Box in a room, can we? We don’t know who is in on this mystery anyway, could be the entire staff or just the management.” Graham concedes the point and nods his head in agreement. “Anyway, it would be weird going into a hotel without bags wouldn’t it?”

“Stranger would be taking in cases but walking around in the same clothes for the entire time.” said Graham in a matter of fact tone. “I’m gonna need a change of clothes and all my stuff is back in the other TARDIS.”

“I trust you can find your way to the wardrobe.” responded The Doctor after a moment.

Graham shrugs. “The rooms change all the time Doctor, some days I find the kitchen first. Other days I end up in the broom closet. You’re gonna have to direct me in this version of The TARDIS.”

“Head down the corridor, should be two doors on your left.” The Doctor points out of the door, suggesting that Graham goes now. “Well hopefully, it’ll be the wardrobe or it could be the swimming pool.” He watches him as he leaves the room.

 

The Doctor has already completed his task, his case with everything he needs is on the floor by him. While waiting for Graham to come back, his mind is going back to the question from earlier. Where is Bill in the future? Surely she wouldn’t have stopped travelling with him when he regenerated. She’s not like that, unless he abandoned her? But he hopes his next self wouldn’t do that. So where could she be, Graham mentioned that he didn't know a Bill or even Nardole, sometimes he wishes he didn’t know Nardole, he’s always nagging him after all. A few minutes after that he hears someone coming into the console room and looks up to watch the human man enter. The Doctor can see the tired bags under his eyes, it stands to reason that he may have not rested since his previous trip. It’s so easy to forget that humans waste hours of their lives sleeping. He did force this adventure on the human man, even if he gave little to no complaints about it though.

“Did you get what you needed?” asked The Doctor. Graham looks down at the case and nods. “We’ll be off then, I got tests I want to run on the hotel and you look dead on your feet.”

Graham looks a little offended at the remark but he doesn’t argue. He can’t really remember that last time he had a proper meal or a decent sleep and he is feeling tireder than usual. Damn alien energy, he blames and not his age.

They take the walk short walk to the hotel front and Graham is looking around in wonder before sharply turning towards The Doctor. “Why aren’t we dead?”

“What do you mean?” questioned The Doctor, raising an eyebrow at the direct question.

Graham uses his free hand to point around him. “Look, we’re on a moon. I’ve been in space before, without a suit, it isn’t fun and we’re on a moon now. So why aren’t we dead? There's no life outside this area.” He moves his hand to point further ahead in the distance proving his point.

The Doctor turns to face Graham, surprised, not at the question more of the fact that he would put them in danger like that. “What were you doing in the vacuum of space without a suit? Why would I put you in that situation?” snapped The Doctor. He remembers his own time in it, wouldn’t want to repeat that again, let alone force it on a friend.

Graham startles back a bit, he can see that this Doctor is surprised and there's an anger. He decides to defend his Doc. “It was a complete accident, The Doc was only meant to transport herself, she took us by accident. It was okay though we got scoped.” responded Graham, like being saved from it was a common occurrence and not based on extreme luck.

The Doctor doesn't think Graham truly knows how close he came to dying then. He lets it go for a moment, surely there has to be an explanation for it? He hopes anyway. “It’s a bubble atmosphere, completely safe inside. Take one step outside and well, you know what it feels like.” explained The Doctor, watching Graham absorb the information.

“Ain’t no chance of it failing though, right?” asked Graham, turning back to look at him, looking a little bit nervous.

“No, the hotel would be shielded anyway, well hopefully.” He grins at Graham. “If it failed, we’ll we dead pretty soon so we wouldn’t have time to worry about it.” explained The Doctor, clapping Graham on the back.

“Oh very reassuring Doctor.” Graham grumbles in frustration, but he can’t help but smirk. The Doctor got one up on him this time, judging by the grin on his face. He notices that they’re at the front doors now and he reads the sign above the door. "Lunar Vale Hotel? Isn't that a bit on the nose Doctor?" chuckled Graham before turning to face The Doctor again, he sees that he's holding the door open for him and waiting. Graham doesn't move forward, he realises that they haven't planned their backstory and gestures for The Doctor to come back. He looks at him puzzled but obliges.

“We should really work out our story before we go in there Doctor.” explained Graham looking serious. He steps closer and looks around, making sure no one is near. “We can’t go in and give completely different stories as to why we’re here.”

They both take a moment to figure out a story before Graham jumps back and clicks his fingers, speaking quickly. “Our grandson.”

“We don’t have a grandson though.” responds The Doctor dumbly.

Graham sighs and runs a hand down his face. The Doctor is fantastic but, sometimes, he honestly wonders. “Not literally. We can use Ryan, he’s my grandson.”

The Doctor catches on and looks upset. “But we’re already using your name, why do we have to use your grandson as well? Why can’t we just use Susan?”

“Who is Susan?” asked Graham, he doesn’t know a Susan and that's the part that the Doctor got stuck on again? He thought they spoke about this.

The Doctor sighs. “Point taking, very well pick one then, Ryan or Susan?”

“Ryan, it’ll be easier, just let me do the talking about him.” With that out of the way, Graham moves onto the next matter. “How long have we’ve been married, or whatever? It’s bound to come up. I can’t go and say four years and you say twenty.” He feels the headache from earlier coming back, probably a mix of low blood sugar, tiredness, and freaky alien energy now.

They spend the next several minutes planning their backstory, realising that they probably should’ve done this in The TARDIS but no one has approached them. The Doctor assures him that no one is listening in on them by wearing those sunglasses again. In the end they decided it’s their anniversary, that they have an adopted daughter called Amy, a name The Doctor suggested, Graham allowed him that one. She then went on to have their grandson, Ryan. With everything planned and another reassurance that it’ll be fine from The Doctor they turn toward the hotel. Graham still nervous that they’ll be found out straight away follows behind The Doctor as they enter and make their way to the reception desk.

 

The inside of the hotel is a rich blue and white, with a ceiling made of glass, or the space equivalent, Graham thinks to himself. He knows it’s looks beautiful, being able to see the stars and he’s pretty sure he would feel amazed at seeing it if it wasn’t for the fact that people have gone missing, never to be seen again from the Lunar Vale Hotel. They reach the desk and make their presence known to the receptionist. She looks at them and welcomes them both. Graham notes in his head that she has that retail smile on her face. The “I’m only smiling because I’m paid to do it” one. He leans on the counter and gives her the bus driver nod in return.

She looks between the pair of them before turning back and facing Graham. “Hello gentleman, how may I help you today?”

Graham gives a slight glance at The Doctor, just to see what he is doing, he sees that he’s put on those damn sunglasses again. He really must ask about them when he gets a chance. He turns his head back towards the woman on the reception and gives her a brief smile, reading her name badge. Sidra, he files that away for later.

“Oh, we’re here for a room.” He gives her another smile. “It’s our anniversary soon and it’s a gift from our grandson Ryan really, we wouldn’t have known about this place if it wasn’t for him. He said this hotel is lovely for couples.” He gestures towards the ceiling. “Fantastic view, that is.”

“Oh a gift? That sounds nice, and he’s right this is the best place to stay for people like yourselves.” she replied. He’s uncertain if she’s just being nice because it’s her job, or if she has an ulterior motive. Damn The Doctor, he’s got him doubting everyone here now. “We got a room free right now, I’ll just need a name for the books.” The woman, Sidra, said.

“Yeah, of course. It’s O’Brien.” responded Graham.

“I'm sorry I’ll need a first name first. For the both of you, just for the books after all.” She looks back up at them, that blasted smile still on her face.

“Oh right, of course.” Graham turns to get The Doctor’s attention. “I’m Graham and he is..”

“The Doctor.” The Doctor adds unhelpfully while removing his sunglasses and shoving them at Graham to hold. Graham takes them like the loyal coat rack that he is and pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand. The Doctor looks at him, a moment of confusion before realising and turning back to the woman who is still waiting for a name from him. “Oh yes, Doctor John.. O’Brien.” Smooth, Doctor, real smooth.

Sidra turns back to the computer in front of her while Graham gives a pointed look at The Doctor, he shrugs back. Sidra types everything, turns around and grabs a key card. She faces Graham and The Doctor, holding the key out to them, smiling that unnatural smile again. “Everything is booked for you, we can accept payment now or when you decide to leave, many like to stay here for a lot longer than planned though. It’s the fifth floor. Do you need help with your bags?” They both narrow their eyes before sharing a glance at each other. Both thinking _“When we decide to leave? And what's this about staying longer than planned?”_

“Oh no, we’ll be fine, won't we Graham? Fifth floor you said?” She nods as The Doctor takes the key from her before lightly pushing Graham along. “We just want to get to our room now. Long journey, and he gets cranky.” Graham gives an offended tired look, as The Doctor takes his hand and smiles. “See, already getting cranky.” The receptionist smiles and waves them away.

They head towards the lift, neither saying anything to the other while they wait for the lift to come. Graham looks down at the sunglasses in his possession, remembering that he had them shoved at him. “Hey Doc..” The Doctor gives him a withering look at the mention of the nickname. “Uh sorry, Doctor. What are these for?” He gestures to the sunglasses in his hand.

“Sonic sunglasses.” The Doctor responds stepping forward and taking the glasses from Graham hand and placing them on his face instead. “Have a look around.” after a brief pause. “Don’t look at my browser history.”

Graham would’ve never thought about checking The Doctor’s browsing history if he never mentioned it, and now he’s wishing he didn’t. Moving on from looking at _that_ he takes The Doctor’s advice and looks around the hotel reception, seeing the power readouts from the sunglasses, and follows them towards a point in the floor below him. He hears the lift doors opens and is lightly pulled into it by The Doctor. He watches as the doors close through the sunglasses before taking them off and handing them back to The Doctor.

He blinks his eyes, feeling a little bit disoriented from the glasses. “There were some weird, I’m not sure was it, uh power readings? They all went to the same place beneath us.” asked Graham, unsure whether that was what The Doctor wanted him to see.

The Doctor smirks. “You are observant Graham, I can see why my future self picked you.” He pats him on the arm, a little bit awkwardly.

“I wouldn’t say picked, more like unintentionally kidnapped.” mumbled Graham, but feeling a little bit happy at the praise.

“Regardless, you saw the power readings, readings like that are way too high for a hotel like this. I’ve got stuff I want to do. In the meantime you should get some rest.” The Doctor looks back at Graham, he wasn’t just making the cranky comment earlier for a dig at him, he can tell Graham looks tired.

Graham leans back onto one of the walls. “Yeah, hectic day, could do with a lie down.” He remembers the breakfast bar he stashed away in his pocket earlier and pulls it out. “Want some?” The Doctor shakes his head in amazement, his first human to actually pack food on them. “Your loss, they’re really quite nice. When travelling with you, it’s always so hard to know when you’re gonna get a chance to eat something. You always run off.”

The Doctor would try and defend himself, but he’s can’t deny it isn’t the truth. He’s liking the human man in front of him more and more. Part of him will be saddened when this is over, but he'll be happy to get Bill back, make sure she’s safe and he will see Graham again in the future.

 

They make the trip to their room quite quickly after leaving the lift, The Doctor rushing ahead again and being the first to enter their room. Graham is about to speak but The Doctor places a hand on his face and shakes his head. He watches as The Doctor places the sunglasses on his face again, and hears a noise as he scans the room. The Doctor removes his hand from his mouth.

“Needed to check if they bugged this room.” said The Doctor walking further into the room.

“And have they?” asked Graham, following after him and dropping his case on the floor.

“No, but we can’t be sure they won’t in the future.” replied The Doctor, placing his case more carefully on the table and opening it. “Oh, you should probably put one of those signs on the door.”

Graham looks at him in slight puzzlement. “The do not disturb sign?” The Doctor gives him thumbs up. “I’m not your gopher, as much as you might believe I am.” grumbled Graham, already completing his task. “What are you doing anyway?” questioned Graham, taking in the layout of the room, at least the bedroom and living area are separated. His tired brain realising that there is only one bed which makes sense all things considered, they are pretending to be married after all. He doesn’t think The Doctor actually sleeps anyway. He wouldn’t care either way, too tired at the moment to care about sharing a bed with The Doctor.

“Need something to record the power readings, well to keep track of them.” The Doctor responds, making Graham jump from his musings, he forgot he asked him a question. He really is tired.

Graham grunts, and kicks off his shoes. “Well I’m gonna sleep.” The Doctor doesn’t respond again and Graham gives him one last look before closing the door and heading to the bed. His exhaustion causing him to fall asleep quite quickly.

Once The Doctor hears that the door has closed he looks up to where his companion went. He was telling the truth about the device, it’s here to read the power readings from the hotel but it also is here to read the scan results from Graham. Unbeknownst to to Graham, he’s been scanning him every now and then, trying to make it so he doesn’t notice, the man is annoyingly observant but so is he. He’s noticed the ring on Graham’s hand and the hurt behind his eyes, not wanting to talk about it earlier and getting defensive. He leans back into the chair he’s sitting on, and runs a hand down his face. His thoughts drift to River, he can tell it’s the same pain that he carries in his heart and he wonders if his future self has even mentioned River to Graham, he doesn’t think she has considering Graham knew nothing about regeneration. He doesn’t think she’s told them much about herself, and that concerns him, who is he becoming? He decides to let the man rest, while he works out the next part of their plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is later than I wanted. My brain went into a funk earlier in the week and I just ended up staring at the page before closing it again.  
> I've read through, and proofread it but it's hard to tell once you've been staring at it for a while.


	7. Chapter 7

Yas is making her way towards Graham’s and Ryan’s house. She would’ve been round sooner but she had a shift at work, plus she needed the rest. She’s eager to get away from her family now though. Her mum asking about The Doctor again and her sister winding her up about her as well. A bit of normality won’t go amiss right now.

Yas smiles when she sees the house, a home away from home she thinks, and she makes her way to the door, letting herself in. Graham gave her a key and said that she’s welcome to come round whenever. She makes her way into the living room and spots Ryan, stood in the far corner hugging a laptop.

Yas raises her eyebrow as she looks at him. “Alright Ryan?” questions Yas, as she looks around the living room. There’s a destroyed Radio, the TV has seen better days and paper with writing and diagrams is thrown all around.

Ryan jumps out of his stupor. “Yeah, fine.” responded Ryan. “Oh he’s gonna kill me isn’t he? I tried Yas, I really did but she just said she needed it all.” He looks down at the laptop in his hand. “I said she can take whatever she needs in the end but she can’t touch this laptop. He’ll forgive me for the other stuff, it’s replaceable. This isn’t.”

Yas looks at the way he’s holding it in his hands, hugging it like a life preserver. “Is that Grace’s laptop?” asked Yas, using her gentle copper voice. He nods and she really feels for him, he lost his Nan and now he’s worried about Graham.

“We’ll get him back Ryan.” she reassured him.

“I know we will, I just miss him.” he snorts. “You don’t know what you miss until you don’t have them anymore.” He sighs and takes a seat at the table. He opens the laptop and stares at it. Indicating the conversation is over for the time being.

Yas can tell he wants some alone time. She looks back at the TARDIS. “Are the Doctor and Bill in the TARDIS?”

“Yeah, went in there earlier. Said something about finding a cable, wasn’t listening really.” explained Ryan, not taking his eyes from the laptop.

Yas gives him a smile and turns to enter the TARDIS, giving him the time he needs. She spots The Doctor and Bill talking by the central column. There’s a brief moment of jealousy but she squashes it down fast, she has no reason to be jealous of Bill. She’s been nothing but kind to her and anyway The Doctor isn’t hers and she can talk to whoever she wants.

“Hey Doctor. Bill.” greeted Yas, making her way over to them. “What are you doing? I spoke to Ryan outside, he said you were in here.”

The Doctor turns quickly and jumps excitedly. “Yas, brilliant human Yas!” said The Doctor, a smile gracing her features. Yas turns and blushes a bit, not noticed by The Doctor but Bill smirks to herself when she sees it. “To answer your question. I’m working on a device that’ll latch onto the energy in Bill.” The Doctor moves her hands as she’s explaining. “That will then connect to Graham, easily creating a loop and hopefully snapping them back to their correct points in Space and Time.”

“When you say hopefully you mean you’re sure right?” asked Yas. “Cause hopefully doesn’t sound reassuring.”

Bill laughs. “Trust me Yas, I ain’t gonna be happy if she’s wrong.” said Bill. “I should tell you about the time my Doctor insulted a king by being clueless to what he was doing. Should’ve seen the look on Nardole’s face when we got arrested. Classic.”

Yas stares at The Doctor, mouth open. “You got arrested? What were you doing insulting a king for Doctor?”

The Doctor flounders around. “I was a different person and he insulted me first. Insulted the clothes I wore, so I simply turned it back on him.” said The Doctor trying to defend herself. “We were fine in the end, just had to spend a night in a cell.”

“Yeah a night in a cold cell with Nardole.” explained Bill. “That man can snore loudly.”

The Doctor has a far away look in her eyes. “Nardole.” she pauses, pulling a face. “I was pretty rough with him, wasn’t I?” She sighed. “He was faithful, should’ve treated him a lot better.”

Yas and Bill watch her, worry on their faces as she stares in the distance. Yas worries for her friend. Bill worries for Nardole, where is he? And why would The Doctor look like that at the mention of his name?

The Doctor shakes her head, trying to forget the past. “Right, I need to get some cables.” said The Doctor as she starts to march away, effectively ending the conversation.

They watch her go both letting the breath they were holding go. Bill turns back to Yas. “So I take it you don’t know a Nardole?” asked Bill.

Yas shakes her head. “I don’t and I’m worried about her now actually. She warned us that this would be dangerous when we got on and I want to know why.”

Bill leans back onto the console. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. Like I know he’s changed into her but where am I?” said Bill, her worry about the future coming back. “I wouldn’t have stopped travelling with him, or her… them? If they changed.”

Yas looks to where The Doctor went. “You have a point, I wouldn’t give this up even if she changed again.”

“I know I shouldn’t know my future but how can I go back and not worry? She doesn’t remember this happening but she knows what happened to me.” said Bill, anxiety coursing through her body.

They both stay in silence for a moment before Bill decides to change the subject to something a bit less panic inducing. “Speaking of The Doctor.” Yas looks at her in question. “You like her, don't say anything denying it. I can tell, trust me. I have experience with women.” Bill winks at Yas. “She likes you as well.”

Yas leans back onto the console as well. “I do like her.” she responded quickly. “I just can’t see her ever liking a human girl like myself.” said Yas, looking at the floor. “She’s fantastic and amazing and I’m just a girl from Sheffield.”

“You’re not just a girl from Sheffield though Yas.” explained Bill, making Yas look at her. “Like I’m not just a girl from Bristol. The Doctor doesn’t just let anyone onto their TARDIS. Aren’t you a police officer? Ryan mentioned where you went and said you were.”

Yas shakes her head. “Yes, but I’m not even a proper police officer yet.”

Bill sighs and takes Yas’ hand. “Yas, I’m just a girl who fries chips in a university.” said Bill, looking at Yas. “And trust me, my Doctor is abrasive and occasionally so out of touch to the point that he unintentionally insults you.” She gives her hand a squeeze. “But he accepted a girl who fries chips into his TARDIS.” She starts to explain as Yas looks at her. “What I’m saying is that your job isn’t important to them, it’s who you are. That is what is important.” Bills releases her hand. “And trust me Yas, she cares for you a lot more than you think. She cares for all three of you but she cares for you a little differently.”

Yas smiles at Bill. “And my Doctor travels with a retired Bus driver and warehouse worker working on his NVQs.”

Bill nods her head. “See what I mean, they don’t care what your day job is. They just care who you are as a person and you Yas, are a great person.”

Yas feeling a little better considered what Bill said just before, about the Doctor liking her? She can’t be saying that The Doctor likes her? Can she? She’s pulled from her thoughts by the sound of someone dragging something.

“A little help.” said The Doctor, dragging a spool of cable behind her. “This never was a problem when I was taller.” she grumbled. “Long legs, very useful. Never gonna take them for granted again.”

Bill and Yas laughs at her antics and go over to help. They help The Doctor bring it over to the console and watch as she connects it to it. “The TARDIS will power the device when I get it built.” she says offhandedly. “Just gotta build the device now.. Oh and don’t think I forgot about the fading energy inside you Bill. I’ve looked at the results, got more time than I thought. Should get this down before it becomes an issue.”

“Wait fading energy inside Bill? I feel like I might’ve missed something Doctor.” said Yas, looking a little confused. “Why is it fading from Bill?”

The Doctor stops for a moment, trying to find the right way of explaining. “You know when you take your phone off charging.” Yas nods. “The energy is fading like a phone battery does, I gotta keep track of it. Well it’s sorta is like that but not at all, it’s a battery on a cosmic scale.”

“And why do you need to keep track of it?”

The Doctor turns back to the cable. “I need the energy, the connection between the pair of them to get Graham back.”

“Alright, fair enough I get that.” said Yas. “Make the swap, get Graham back. What do you need me to do?”

The Doctor smiles brightly at her and it causes Yas to get butterflies in her stomach. “Just need help taking the cable out for the moment.” The Doctor stands up and gives the spool to Bill and Yas to hold. “Just take it towards the doors while I lead it, can’t have it acting as a trip hazard.”

Bill and Yas make the trip to the doors and Bill hands it over to Yas to hold as she opens them. She pops her head out and calls out to Ryan.

Yas sees Ryan head into the TARDIS, the laptop gone from his hands. “Hey Ryan, can you just keep the doors open while we take this outside?” He nods in understanding and holds the doors open. He watches as Yas and Bill dump the spool onto the floor and waits for The Doctor to exit along with them.

The Doctor looks at them all. “Team TARDIS working together.” She claps her hands together and heads over to the TV. “Right just need to get..” She stops and clutches her head again. The pain coming quickly and flashes of a memory appearing. _Moon of Tharus, a room booked and did she just take Graham’s hand? What is going on?_

They’re at her side in an instant. “Doctor are you alright?” asked Yas, worry in her voice at the same time as Ryan asks. “What was that Doctor?”

She sits on the floor holding her head. “A memory, I think. Had one the other day.” explained The Doctor. “I didn't want any of you to worry about me and I wasn’t sure what it was so I didn’t mention it.”

Bill frowns. “A memory Doctor? And you should’ve told us.”

The Doctor shrugs apologetically. “Tharus, I did something with Graham on Tharus. Well not Tharus, it’s moon, apparently judging from what I just saw and I think I booked a couples room with him, but why?”

Yas looks back at Ryan and Bill. “Booked a couples room with him, what does that mean?

Ryan jumps in quickly, finding his voice. “Why would you book a room like that with my grandad Doctor?”

The Doctor has puzzling look on her face. “Ryan, I honestly have no idea.” She really doesn’t but she expects to find out at some point in the future. “But more importantly at the moment, why am I suddenly remembering about this.”

Bill looks at Ryan. “Is this a common thing your grandad does?” She doesn’t know Graham, she’s just trying to get the facts.

Ryan splutters and yelps. “What? No, he doesn’t just book rooms with people he meets.” He faces away from her but something is making him think about the question she asked. “No, he doesn’t, unless it’s part of a plan! Remember the motel Doctor? The one with Rosa Parks, you pretended to be married to throw of that police officer.”

The Doctor thinks over his answer for a moment. “Very good point Ryan! It’s not out of character for him. They must being working on something. Something happened there that involves them pretending to be something they’re not.” said The Doctor. “Argh, if only I could remember more.”

Bill considers both of their answers. “Either way Doctor, we know where my Doctor and Graham are now.” said Bill quickly. “You could get a message to them. Try and tell them of our plans.”

The Doctor’s face lights up. “Yes, perfect. Bill, 10 points to you.” Bill looks at her in confusion. “I give points now, and thumbs up. Also gold stars.” Bill snorts. “Right Fam, first things first. Let’s connect the cable to the device, well the partial device. Then we can figure out sending a message to the hotel. Now I don’t want to land there so I’m going to have to find a way to get it to them.”

“Why can’t you just land there Doctor?” questioned Ryan.

“Can’t risk it. I don’t know when or where they landed and we really don’t want to chance it but with some thinking and my memory coming back we’ll find out. Just have to wait.”

They all nod in agreement and get to work on building the device. Each following The Doctor’s instructions. A clear goal in mind now.


	8. Chapter 8 Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I'm super sorry about disappearing! This wanted to go in two different ways and I couldn't decide which one was better so I sorta left it but a kind person left a comment yesterday that made me go "Damn, I should get my ass into gear and pick one." So out of A and B. I picked option A and I hope you'll enjoy that one :p This is just a short one but I'll try to get back onto a regular plan now, but it's probably going to change formats because one story is going to take longer than the other one to complete. That's Twelves and Grahams, we'll pop in with Thirteen, Yaz, Ryan, and Bill though but the Hotel arc is longer in my head.

The Doctor has made his way into the bedroom, ready to inform Graham of some crucial information he found out but frowns when he sees the man sleeping. Ah, yeah, that’s a thing humans do, it wastes time, he thinks to himself. He slowly makes his way around the bed, considering waking Graham up and telling him what he found but decides against doing that. Instead, he sits down with his legs up on the bed with his head leaning on the back wall. He glances down at Graham and realises that humans are so vulnerable when they sleep, the man didn’t even stir when he entered. He watches him for a little longer, the darkness of the room not bothering him too much before picking the tablet that he brought in with him back up and looking through it again.

He reckons a good 40 minutes have gone past before he’s drawn from his thoughts. Graham is mumbling something in his sleep and he sounds distressed. The Doctor listens in and can vaguely hear the word _Grace._ He’s tempted to wake the man up but holds off again, listening in and intruding but he wants to know what he wouldn’t tell him earlier. After a few more mutterings the Doctor figures out that the word _Grace_ is actually a name and judging by what’s being said he would reckon that whoever it belonged to is most likely dead. He stares down at the man in sadness, his own loss whispering away in the back of his mind.

It’s not long after that Graham begins to awaken. He releases a long drawn out sigh before rolling over and jumping back in shock and swearing when he sees a figure next to him, he takes a moment to work out who it is before glaring at him. “Bloody hell Doctor, what on Earth are you just sat there for.” said Graham, through panicked breaths. “You damn well nearly gave me a heart attack.”

The Doctor looks down and smiles at him through the darkness. “Oh great, you’re awake then. I’ve been waiting.” said The Doctor, not wanting to bring up the subject of the name _Grace_ at the moment. “You know anyone could’ve come in here by the way, you didn’t wake up at all.” explained the Doctor, nonchalantly.

Graham takes a deep breath before lying back down on his back and bringing a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. He sighs in acceptance and annoyance. “How long have you been waiting for me to wake up Doctor?” He’s not sure he wants to know really. He didn’t need to think about people coming into his room when he’s sleeping but he guesses he’s gonna do that now. He’ll add it to the “ _Things to think about before going to sleep_ ” list along with all the other fears.

The Doctor shrugs. “No longer than an hour, gave me time to think.” He looks at Graham through the darkness. “You humans, you spend so much time sleeping. It gets boring, what do you do?” questioned the Doctor, trying to see if Graham will mention his dream. He gives up when the man doesn’t reply to his question. He’ll try again later then, his own curiosity eating away at him. “Anyway, doesn’t matter now, you’re awake, I got something to show you.”

Graham shakes his head abruptly. “No Doctor, it does matters. You don’t just sit in a dark room next to someone and stare at them.” Graham bites back, great he really is cranky now. “Honestly, you’re like a cat. Just a big human shaped..” He turns his head back to The Doctor and tries to focus on him through the darkness. “No, not human shaped. No you’re a _whatever you are_ shaped one.” He’s calmer now. “You know I had a cat once. I used to wake up with him staring at me.” rambled Graham. “You’re like him, he was grey, abrasive, not Scottish though.”

The Doctor reaches over and turns a light on, causing Graham to screw his eyes shut from the brightness. He turns back to Graham and narrows his eyes. “I’m not a cat Graham.” said the Doctor, frowning. “And that’s not what we’re talking about anyway. This is.” The Doctor reaches over and shoves the tablet in Graham’s face. “I studied the layout of the hotel.” He points to a few sections. “The power is directed through the entire complex but it centres around the middle of it, here.”

Graham scowls at the Doctor for nearly hitting him in the face and takes the tablet begrudgingly. He looks closely at and winces before blinking, his eyes still adjusting from the light. He looks again, focusing on it now. “Is that the reception? The one with the glass ceiling.” The Doctor nods. “Why do power readings pool under there? What is special about that area, or under that area?”

The Doctor shrugs but gives him a smile. “I’m not sure at the moment but we can go and check it out.” replied the Doctor. Graham nods and starts to get up but the Doctor stops him. “Not now, it’s currently the middle of the night here.” Graham looks puzzled and he Doctor sighs, he might be observant but he’s slow on the uptake when he’s just woken up. “We’ll look suspicious wandering around at night. I’ve checked, look here.” He selects another part on the tablet, changing the screen to show cameras instead. “There’s no other guests hanging around at this time of night.”

Graham settled back down again. He briefly sees that he’s gone to sleep in his clothes, he managed to take his jacket off and apparently that’s how far he got before falling asleep. So that’s what his life has come to now then, sleeping in his day clothes in a strange hotel that has missing people and doing all that while a man stares at you. If someone told him a year that this would happen he would’ve laughed in their face and called them insane. He shakes those thoughts away, focusing on the matter in hand instead. “How do you even know this?” asked Graham, looking back at the tablet.

The Doctor smirks. “I broke into their security systems, easily done.” He looks way to proud of himself, Graham reckons. “They should be ashamed of themselves. Easily cracked, pointless having them really.”

Graham rolls his eyes. “Or they’re so confident in whatever they’re doing that they feel they don’t need a decent one.” mumbled Graham.

The Doctor pulls a shocked face. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Don’t know Doctor, maybe that’s why you need us around.” replied Graham shrugging as he gets up and stretches. “But I’m gonna get a drink.” He starts making his way from the bedroom, leaving the room and heading over to the little area that has a kettle and a selection of teas. He forgoes all that and picks up a water bottle instead, undoing it and drinking from it greedily. Feeling refreshed but weirdly still thirsty.

The Doctor follows after him, tablet in hand. Graham offers him a bottle but the Doctor declines it, heading over to his equipment instead. Graham shrugs, undoing the second one and drinking from it slower this time. “So what is the plan Doctor?” asked Graham, between mouthfuls.

“We wait until morning which should be about a couple of hours away. Your job is to go and socialise while I go and do some digging.”

“I thought we were doing this all together?”

The Doctor glances at Graham. “I will move quicker by myself and I know what I’m looking for, you, you’ll be better at doing the ‘talking to people’ role.” said the Doctor in air quotes.

Graham grabs another water bottle after finishing the second, and heads over to one of the seats opposite the Doctor. “I’m capable of more than just talking to people Doctor.” replied Graham, opening it and taking another drink. “I could come with you, act as back up.”

The Doctor shakes his head. “I don’t need backup.” said the Doctor, looking back up and seeing the slight hurt expression on Graham’s face. He sighs. “Graham, you’re better at talking to people. You got that woman, Alana..”

“Her name was Alaina.”

The Doctor waves a hand through the air. “See, you remembered her name!” Graham gives him a deadpan look as the Doctor carries on. “Alaina, then. You got her to trust you, better than I did, that’s why I want you to go and talk to people. You have a trustworthy face.”

Graham inclines his head at the praise, taking another swig before looking at the bottle again. He must’ve been thirsty, judging by how much he’s drunk. He takes his eyes from the bottle and looks back at the Doctor. “So then, couple of hours. You can go and play Sherlock, while I play Doctor Watson.”

“Why are you playing Doctor Watson? I’m the Doctor here.”

Graham raises an eyebrow. “Well, yeah true, you are but you’re more of the ‘snooping type’. Well my Doc is and it seems like it’s a character trait. So you’re more the Sherlock and I’ll be the one that follows you around apologising for your attitude, the Watson.” explained Graham. “This is a murder mystery after all and we were hired, like they are in the books.”

“Shouldn’t really learn more about my future self Graham and we don’t necessarily know this is a murder mystery yet.” replied the Doctor, offhandedly. He looks back up from the tablet, giving a slight frown at Graham. He went to sleep but he still looks tired. His mind zones in on the muttering from earlier.

“When you were sleeping earlier Graham, you were talking in your sleep. You mentioned a name.”

Graham narrows his eyes, as his face takes a more neutral approach. “I don’t really want to talk about it Doctor.”

“You said the name Grace, who are they?”” asked the Doctor, his voice gentler than normal. He casts his eyes back up to Graham again and he sees a slight twitch as the man grinds his teeth.

Graham doesn’t answer as his hand clenches around the bottle. His own thoughts trailing back to earlier, the dark thoughts about whether his Doc knew that Grace would die causing him to feel frustration. He snaps his head back up, eyes staring at the Doctor’s own. “If you knew something was gonna happen, that you knew you couldn’t stop, would you try to stop it from happening?” asked Graham, running a thumb over the water bottle.

The Doctor places down the tablet and stares at Graham. “I take this has something to do with..”

Graham cuts in front, his voice unwavering. “Would you stop it if you could? Because if you would then I want to rephrase my question.”

The Doctor raises a hand to his face, running it down. He thinks back to the incident on Mars, where he went too far and stopped history proceeding as it should’ve done. “I would do everything within my power to stop it from happening if I could.”

Graham glares harder. “Then why didn’t you save her or did you forget about this happening?” snapped Graham, standing up gesturing around the room. He stops and sighs, turning to face the Doctor again. “I’m sorry Doctor, you didn’t deserve that.” He stands for a moment longer, collecting his thoughts before sitting down again. He places the bottle down and leans back in the chair, bringing his hands to his face. “Her name was Grace, and she was my rock but she died, back when I first met you, well when you fell into our lives.” Graham releases a deep breath as he brings his hands down to his lap. “I wanted to know if my Doc knew, whether she pretended that she didn’t recognise us, all of us that is. Yaz, Ryan, even the name Grace.” He stares back at the Doctor now. “Cause if the Doc knew and she pretended that she didn’t, then I don’t think I can travel with her anymore, if she lied.. Or if she...”

“I take it she was your wife?” asked the Doctor, interrupting Graham. His voice far away, thinking back to his own wife. Graham nods and the Doctor can see the unshed tears in his eyes. “I know what you’re feeling Graham.” said the Doctor, sighing and looking at Graham as the latter gives him a quizzical look. “River Song, was her name, she was my wife.”

“You were married?” asked Graham, the Doctor gives a slight nod. “She did say that she lost her family a long time ago…”

The Doctor has a sad smile on his face as he brings up his hand with the ring on it, drawing Graham’s attention to it. “We met in the wrong order. The last time she saw me was the first time I saw her.”

Graham frowns, his brief anger from earlier being replaced by confusion. “How is that possible?”

“We always met at different times in our lives, she had a diary and always checked to see what we did together, she never did give away spoilers.” replied the Doctor, looking down at the ring. “I understand what you’re feeling Graham, believe me. I always knew when River was going to die because I watched it happen.” He looks back up at Graham. “If I knew your Grace was going to die, I would’ve done everything within my power to stop it from happening.”

Graham face softens as he looks down. “I believe you Doctor, you don’t get to have the same look on your face that I have everyday when I think of Grace without having experienced a loss like that. If you say you wouldn’t have remembered or that you tried everything to save her then I believe you.” said Graham, pausing and trying to collect his own emotions. He laughs a hollow laugh. “Look at us, two widowers, brought together by an accident.”

The Doctor can’t help but give him a sad smile in return. “The universe has a funny way of doing things.” He looks back down at the tablet again. “Will you attempt to go back to sleep?”

Graham shakes his head, opening the water bottle again and bringing it to his lips and drinking. He places it back down. “Nah, Doctor. I never do when I have a night like this, usually just head into the TARDIS library or take a look in the observation deck, your ship always leads to where I wanna go on those nights.”

After a moment Graham raises his bottle of water, staring at the Doctor. “To our late wives Doctor, to River and to Grace.”

“To our wives.” replied the Doctor, before turning back to the tablet.

Graham watches the man, knowing that he won’t get much more from him tonight, they both have too much to think about. Instead he heads over to the window, looking out over the moon. He raises the bottle again. “To you Grace.”


	9. Chapter 8 Part Two

Time goes by slowly when you’re not sleeping, Graham thinks to himself. He asked the Doctor earlier how long they have until they can leave to get started on actually investigating this mystery but he’s bored now, already looked through the TV channels after having the Doctor explain to him how to use the remote. He did stop on something that looked similar to Football and that entertained him until the Doctor turned to him and asked if he even knows what is going on and if he doesn’t then why is he watching it, so he turned over in a huff and is now watching a space soap opera, bored out of his mind. This is the worst thing about waking up from a restless night and realising that you have another three hours to go and that sleep is impossible, you end up watching drivel on the TV.

“Hey, how long we got to go now?” asked Graham straining his head round to watch what the Doctor is doing. “Cause I’m bored.”

The Doctor carries on fiddling with the tablet, his sunglasses on his face, scanning away. “An hour, not long.” he replied, not looking up from the tablet.

Graham turns away again, staring absentmindedly at the TV as he drums his hand on the sofa, after a moment, he decides to get up and get ready for the day. “You don’t need to use the bathroom do you? Cause I’m gonna get out of these clothes and into something else.” The Doctor waves him away, like you would do to an annoying fly. Graham shrugs and makes his way towards his case, opening and looking through the mismatch of clothes he ‘ _borrowed_ ’ from the wardrobe. He settles on familiar and picks out the blue shirt and a pair of trousers before disappearing into the bathroom.

The Doctor carries on watching the goings on in the hotel but his eyes drift to the ring on his hand again. He places the tablet down, figuring out what they need to do and where he needs to go. He reaches for one of the water bottles, opening and drinking from it slowly as his mind plays over different ideas. His eyes travel to the bathroom as he thinks over how similar they are, and he wonders why his future self hasn’t even mentioned River to Graham or the other two, Raz? Yan? Doesn’t matter, he’ll know them in the future he guesses, but where is his future going if he hasn’t even thought to mention River to another grieving widower. He sits there, drinking the water, wondering.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Graham, feeling fresher and dressed now looks up at the mirror and sighs at how tired he looks, he’ll crash at some point, sleep for a good portion of the day and then the process will repeat again. He goes to turn but feels the thirst from earlier come back. There’s something distant and at the back of his head asking why he’s thirsty, he’s drunk three bottles of water not that long ago but he ignores it and fills up the cup placed on the sink, drinking from it and frowning in discomfort after a moment. A sudden sick feeling hitting him as he leans over the sink. It lingers within him and he decides to tip the rest away, chalking it up to weird alien taps. He’ll just stick with the bottled stuff, that didn’t make him feel sick. He looks back up feeling a little self conscious in the clothes he burrowed, they’re tighter than he’s used to and now that’s also making him uncomfortable, he just feels wrong somehow, he just can’t quite place why _though_ , giving himself one last look he leans back from the sink and heads out to join the Doctor again.

He eyes the Doctor who is sitting still, bottled water in hand and staring ahead. He steps into his line of vision. “Right, Doctor. I’m ready to go now.”

The Doctor snaps out of it and looks up at Graham. “Finally.” said the Doctor, standing up and pocketing the tablet before turning around closing his own packed case.

Graham watches as he clicks something on it and gasps when the case vanishes. “What did you do to it? It was there and now it isn’t.”

The Doctor smirks at him, eager to explain something. “It’s like the TARDIS Graham, it’s still there just concealed under a perception feature, a pretty strong one at that. You can only see it if you look through the glasses.” explained the Doctor as he turns around and starts stalking towards the door with his hands in his pockets. “We wouldn’t want any cleaners or other hotel staff looking through it would we?” Graham nods in agreement. “Now come on Graham, let's get a shift on.”

Graham follows behind, thankfully the sick feeling is fading but the trousers are tight and that’s annoying him. “Can we go to the restaurant first cause I’ve not eaten in hours and I feel a bit sick, probably from the lack of food, hopefully.”

“You feel sick?”

“I dunno, I drunk some of the tap water, made me feel a bit sick if I’m honest, can’t see why it would though.”

The Doctor lets out a long drawn out sigh. “Humans! Do you not travel around your own world Graham? There’s warnings telling you not to drink from the taps in other countries and yet you did it here. Pudding brains the lot of you, it’s a wonder you lot haven’t died by your own hubris. ‘ _Is this berry poisonous, I don’t know but let's eat it and oh no, now we’re dead._ ” ranted the Doctor. “I didn’t realise I had to babysit what you eat and drink here.”

Graham’s annoyance turns into grumpiness now. “I only drank the water from the tap, it’s not like I drank bleach and ate crayons Doctor, so don’t insult my intelligence. I’ll just stick to the bottled stuff.” grumbled Graham, hanging back from him now annoyed.

The Doctor turns back to him, seeing the irritable frown on his face a feeling a tad bad for snapping at the man, they bonded previously and now he put his foot in it. He decides to answer the previous question. “Yes, we can go to the restaurant first, but walk with me, we’re meant to be together. It looks like we had an argument.”

“We did have an argument though.” complained Graham, looking put out. He sighs and decides to catch up to the Doctor anyway, the quicker they get this done the quicker he can get back to watching soap operas and being bored. Changing the subject, he glances at the Doctor. “So what exactly is the plan today?”

“The plan is simple really, you go and talk, make friends, do what you humans are great at.” said the Doctor, taking his hands from his pockets and clapping Graham on the back. He looks up to see a cleaner leaving a room up ahead and decides to leave an arm around the human mans shoulder.

Graham glances at the arm around him, his face questioning what the Doctor is doing, he goes to shrug him off, still annoyed from earlier but as he looks up, he too spots the cleaner up ahead and it makes sense now. “And what will you be doing exactly?” whispered Graham, leaning his head closer, trying to make what they’re talking about as quiet as possible.

“I’m going to have a look around outside.” responded the Doctor as the cleaner starts coming their way now. The Doctor looks at them and gives them a smile as they pass before glancing back, watching them enter another room. When he’s satisfied that they’re alone again, he removes his arm. “I want to see if there’s anyway to get below the hotel from the outside.”

“Why? No, never mind, if you explain it to me you’ll only make me feel stupid again.” whinged Graham before carrying on. “So when you’re doing that, what do you exactly want me to do? I know you said talk but I just want to be absolutely clear.” He looks up as they approach the lift, the Doctor jumping in front of him to push the button like a gleeful child.

“Talk to the workers and other guests, find out how long this hotel has been here and how long the guests have stayed for, things like that Graham lie if you have to, if they asked you something.” Graham looks unconvinced. “You’ll be fine, humans are great liars.”

Graham pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t have to remember what I lied about, Ryan would tell you that I’m not a good liar.” said Graham in a crisp tone. As the lift arrives, he steps in first with the Doctor following in behind. “So we sticking to what we discussed, yeah, anniversary and all that?” The Doctor nods and Graham goes and stands towards the back, still looking uncomfortable.

Graham starts fidgeting after a bit, one moment he felt sick, the next he’s hungry and now he’s cranky from the Doctor’s comments and these damn trouser are annoying him!

The Doctor seeing movement from the corner of his eye and turns round to face his companion with a perplexed expression on his face. “What are you doing Graham?” asked the Doctor, glancing down at him and watching as man pulls at the trousers he’s wearing. “Stop doing that.” He grabs Graham’s arm away. “We have a job to do.”

Graham pulls his arm back quickly. “Who trousers are these? They were in your wardrobe, can’t be yours you’re like a bean pole, so they’re someone elses.” demanded Graham, looking extremely uncomfortable, tired and in general, looking like someone who’s day started out wrong and proceeded to nose dive into the floor.

The doctor looks down, tilting his head to the side and looking at the clothes. He knows the blue shirt and the trousers anywhere. “They’re Jacks, but you’re missing his long coat. I should get a coat again, a nice long one.” he replied, looking down at his jacket and hoodie combo. “Oh no wait, I should combine these two. A hoodie and jacket. Hackett? Joodie?”

Graham stops what he’s doing and snaps his head up, thinking back to what his Doc wears, his mind suddenly thinking if he influenced the choice in clothing in the Docs future... No, better not to think about that now, it’ll only cause a headache again. “Well whoever they are, they wear their trousers super tight.” grumbled Graham, still looking annoyed.

“Why are you being so weird?” questioned the Doctor, looking thoroughly fed up at his antics.

Graham puffs indignantly. “Oh I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m on a moon with a different version of the Doctor, who somehow manages to make me feel too stupid to breath by myself, I also have to pretend to be married to you and to top it off we’re trying to figure out a mystery…” He gestures down at the trousers. “…while these trousers restrict vital blood flow.”

The Doctor for a brief second looks sorry as his gaze softens. “Are you done?” Graham gives him a nod after a moment and stands up straighter. “We’re on our way to the restaurant now so once you have something to eat and drink you can stop being cranky.”

“Fine.” muttered Graham, crossing his arms and leaning against the back wall in his burrowed clothes. They wait in silence and when the door opens Graham rushes out looking around the reception again. He eyes the other guests and spots that they’re holding hands. He doesn’t really want to take the Doctor’s hand at the moment, still annoyed but they have a role to play. “Do I take your hand as well? Cause if I was here with Grace, I would but… if I’m honest, I don’t really know you.”

The Doctor exits and looks ahead as well. “We shouldn’t need to, not everyone holds hands.” replied the Doctor, pulling out the tablet and looking down at it. “The restaurant is over here, follow me.” He places the tablet back into his jacket and walks away with Graham by his side.

As they enter, Graham makes heads over to the different foods, taking some of the fruit but not much, he goes for stuff that looks like it could come from Earth. As he’s looking over it all he’s a little surprised when he sees pears. He takes a couple of those and turns to get a drink, spotting that the only thing available is the bottled water. He takes a few, some for him, some for the Doctor. He knows that he can trust the bottled water, and only the bottled water.

The Doctor raises an eyebrow when he comes back over. “I thought you said you were hungry, you hardly got anything.” pointed out the Doctor.

Graham looks down at the tray. “I am hungry but this is fine, and I think I’m just thirsty if I’m honest, still feeling a little sick.” Graham looks over his shoulder and gestures with a nod towards a table near people. “We should go and sit over there, it’s near those other guests.”

The Doctor follows his gaze and nods in agreement, heading over to the table and sitting down facing the others. Graham takes the seat opposite him. “This, it’s alright for humans to eat right?” asked Graham, holding up a curious looking fruit. “I don’t want to eat something that’s gonna kill me, only to have you standing over my body, gloating and calling me a pudding brain as I die.”

The Doctor frowns at the fruit. “It’s fine for you to eat, just don’t eat the skin.” He looks around the room again, there is something bothering him but he can’t quite place it, he’s sure he’ll figure it out later.

Graham gestures to his own food before looking back at the Doctor. “You should probably get something Doctor, it looks odd that you’re not having anything.” said Graham, getting the Doctor’s attention and passing a water bottle to him. “Drink that at least, you’ll be blending in then.” said Graham, mindful of who is listening in. Before looking around. “Cause everyone is drinking it, it’s the only thing available.”

The Doctor takes the bottle, holding it in his hand as he carries on looking around the room. After a moment he reaches over and takes some of Graham’s fruit before looking down at it and pulling a disgusted face. “There’s definitely something wrong with this hotel.”

Graham places down his own fruit. “How can you tell, apart from, you know, the missing people.” explained Graham, waving his hand to emphasise his point.

“They’re serving pears, I hate pears.” replied the Doctor, placing the pear as far away from him as possible.

Graham releases a long drawn out sigh. “Seriously? They have pears for the taking and that’s one of the issues you have here.” said Graham shaking his head, as he takes a drink from the water again, instantly feeling better as the sick feeling leaves him. “And you asked me if my Doc was a child.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” snapped the Doctor, looking offended. Graham smiles innocently at him. The Doctor unscrews his own bottle, drinking from it before placing it down again.

“The water is good, really settles the stomach. I don’t feel sick no more.” said Graham, looking down at it.

The Doctor stares down at the one in his hand as well, there’s definitely something wrong and it has nothing to do with the pears but it’s not coming to him at all. He’s about to raise the bottle again when a voice interrupts them.

“Morning gentlemen.” said the stranger, a young man in a smart suit. They both look up at him and Graham gives him a warm smile. The Doctor on the other hand, his face is unreadable as he focuses on the man. “You left for your room pretty quickly last night, we didn’t get a chance to give you our brochure.” said the man, handing one out to Graham. “It has all the available activities for you to do here, just don’t leave the bubble atmosphere for obvious reasons.” joked the man.

“Oh, we’ll look through this for sure.” replied Graham, flicking through it before handing it over to the Doctor to look at. “What’s your name son?”

The man looks surprised. “Oh it’s Akeel, sir.”

“None of this sir stuff Akeel, just, Graham, will be fine.”

Akeel looks between the two of them. “Uh, we’re only meant to refer to the guests as Sir, Madam or in your case Mr and Mr O’Brien, I’m not allowed to use your first names, at the Lunar Vale Hotel we pride of ourselves on excellen…”

“It’s Doctor, not Mr.” said the Doctor, interrupting his spiel.

“I’m sorry?” said Akeel, looking a little put off his game now.

Graham frowns. Nice going Doctor. He sees the Doctor about to speak again but he cuts in front quickly. “What my... husband...” He pauses quickly, that’s going to take a while to get used to saying, he thinks, before continuing on. “...is trying to say is that he’s a Doctor, worked very hard for his title.” said Graham as he leans in, making a show that he’s going to whisper but he speaks loud enough for the Doctor to hear. “He just gets a little touchy if people call him Mr… oh and it’s even worse if you just call him ‘Doc’, so don’t do that.” smirked Graham, the smug look not leaving his face as he stares at the Doctor. Graham gives him a wink before looking back up at Akeel again.

“Then I apologise Dr O’Brien.” said Akeel, bowing his head. He still looks a little off put as he steps away. “I’ve taken up enough of your time this morning, I’ll leave you to your breakfast.” He gives them a courteous nod. “One more thing before I go, the food is not to be taken from the restaurant but the bottled water, you can take as much as that as you want. There are recycling bins dotted around. Enjoy your stay.” He bows again and leaves.

Graham waits for him to be far enough away before turning back to the Doctor. “Great going Doctor, I can see why you put me on schmoozing duty now.”

The Doctor waves his comment away as he stands up, making his way over to Graham and leaning over him. “Look through the brochure and talk to the workers and guests, I’m going to take a look around the perimeter, we’ll meet here later, go over what each of us have found.” revealed the Doctor, before awkwardly patting him on the shoulder and turning to leave.

Graham calls out after him, making the Doctor turn around again. He grabs one of his bottles of water and hands it over to him. The Doctor stares down at it and takes it, placing it in his pocket. “What has got in to you and why are you caring all of a sudden about what I’m drinking?”

Graham shrugs. “Water is good for you, keeps you hydrated.”

The Doctor nods and pulls out the bottle again, there is something definitely wrong but he’s struggling to place it as he opens the bottle to take a drink. “Yeah, you’re right.” Graham gives him a smile. Maybe he just needs to drink more, it’s refreshing and comforting. That’s probably it.

 

Unbeknownst to them, a figure is watching them as they drink the water, a satisfied look on their face as they speak into a device. “The guests from last night have drunk the Ichor, one more so than the other but they’ll both be under our Lord's sway soon enough, like all the others.” The figure pauses, watching the taller one as he makes his way from the restaurant. “I’ll follow the one that has just left, get another to trail the one still in the restaurant, they seem different to the rest.” The figure doesn’t wait for a response before following after the Doctor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the lift scene was a Thor: Ragnarok reference because it was too good of an opportunity to pass up on considering Graham has none of his clothes.


	10. Chapter 8 Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graham day gets worse and then it's gets really worse.  
> Or "Ah, crap, the bad guy monologues his evil plan"

Graham remains seated for a while longer while he flicks through the brochure, most of the stuff in there going over his head, it’s not like he knows what any of it is. He places it into his pocket and gets up to have a quick look round again, just seeing what the other guests are doing. For a hotel this big, there doesn’t seem to be many milling about he thinks. He’s brought from his thoughts by a voice.

“Excuse me, sorry for interrupting you.” asked a voice from a table situated by the windows. He turns to face the voice, seeing a young man and woman beckoning him over.

“Can I help you?” asked Graham, looking over at them.

The woman flashes him a smile. “We were wondering if you would take our picture, the view here is fantastic as you have probably seen.”

Graham returns the smile. “Course, you’ll have to show me how to do it though, I’m a bit old school when it comes to technology.” He reckons he’s a few centuries out of date on the current tech if he’s honest considering he had to ask how to use the remote. When he's back home he has to get Ryan to log into his bank account, cause it’s too confusing, how is he supposed to remember the username and two passwords! He turns his attention back to the couple as they wait.

The woman smiles at him again and he makes his way over to them. She quickly explains how to use it before they take a step back from him and towards the window.

“Ready?” asked Graham as they nod. He takes a few pictures for them before handing it back over. “Are they all right for you?”

“They’re perfect mate, cheers.” replied the man looking down at his partner with love. “I’m Osian and this is Shana, by the way.”

“Great to meet you, I’m Graham, the man I was with earlier is my partner.” said Graham sticking his hand out for them to shake. Osian grabs his hand while staring at him, the tightness feels puzzling. Graham looks down at his hand, the skin to skin contact causing him to frown, something feels _different_ , almost like he can read the man Osian. Graham snaps out of it and pulls his hand back quickly, there’s a panic in his chest but he feels fading fast. He tries to focus on it, needing to tell the Doctor that it was weird when he touched another guest but it’s easily forgotten and gone, leaving him stood there confused. He looks back up again, seeing that Osian is still staring at him, his head cocked to one side. Looking at the woman Shana instead, he tries to start another topic, anything to get Osian to stop staring at him. “Our grandson, Ryan, he mentioned about coming here, said it was great for couples.”

“Oh he's a smart man than and he’s totally right.” said Shana nodding in agreement. “I’ve always heard great things about this place but we could never afford to come but Osian here, he won the trip of a lift time! Didn't you love?”

Osian snaps out of his stupor and faces Shana again, his face taking on a more human expression now. “Yeah, didn’t even know my company entered us to the draw but every few months a couple will win a holiday here and we were one of the lucky pairs! I take it you were as well? That's the only reason you could be here.”

Graham nods but he files the information away for later. He briefly wonders where Alaina’s daughter fell in all this, did she win a trip as well with her husband? Turning back to them again. “How long have you been here so far?”

Osian breathes out and looks to Shana. “Not sure, we were going to leave but there’s just something about this place, it keeps drawing you in with its beauty, don’t you agree?”

Graham looks out over the moon, his legs moving forward subconsciously. Osian is right, it is a enticing place. Graham shakes his head, and clenches his fists, something feels _wrong_ , like it’s getting into his head and making him like it. People are going missing and he’s looking out over the view admiring the place, that’s not him and he knows it. “Osian, Shana, has anything ever weird happened here?”

“Like what?” asked Shana, her voice taking on a slight monotone sound this time.

Graham doesn’t notice. “I don’t know, stuff, something feels _off_.”

He’s pulled from his thoughts as Osian places a hand on his shoulder. “You should have some more water, it always reassures me after I drink some.”

Graham looks down and sees he’s holding one of the bottles out to him and his hand reaches for it. “Yeah, it settled me earlier, probably that.” murmured Graham, opening it and drinking deeply.

Osian looks satisfied. “It was good talking to you Graham, but me and Shana have a class to get too now.” He removes his hand, staring intently at Graham, almost predatory. “You should try some of the activities they have here.”

“I’m sure we will, thanks for the water.” replied Graham, looking back at them. “It was triffic speaking to you two and I guess we’ll see each other around.” They nod at him before turning and walking away, linking their hands together as Graham stares at them, something about the hands. He tries to think back but his memory about it is gone now. He groans in frustration, why does he feel _wrong?_

* * *

He’s walked around the outside of the hotel a couple of times now, not finding anything of note or of interest. The sunglasses have been scanning away and keeping a record of the power readings, while mapping the trips. The one thing that Doctor has noticed, something that has made him curious and that’s the fact that the hotel doesn’t have a swimming pool. What sort of luxury hotel wouldn’t have one? It’s not like they don’t have enough water going around and what’s exactly with all the bottled water? He’s noticed that the one he took from the restaurant he’s drunk already, and he fought the urge to go back and get another. He doesn’t need to drink as much as a human so why did he have to fight of the urge?

He goes to loop around again but spots a person watching him from the distance. Either it’s just a coincident and whoever it just happens to be outside at the same time, watching him. The Doctor turns to face the figure. A standoff, who will look away first. The man is wearing a suit, his hair is dark and his skin pale, too pale the Doctor thinks.

The figure draws themselves to their full height before walking away, hands in their pockets and heading back into the hotel. The Doctor is too far away to scan them with the sonic and goes to follow but stops, perhaps that’s what they want. Narrowing his eyes under the shades he turns again, making another trip around the resort. This time thinking about the water, what is with it? He’s tasted it himself and it smells, feels, and tastes exactly like water but there’s something _off_ about it. After this next loop around his mapping will be complete he’ll then head back inside to grab a bottle and find Graham. With a plan in action the Doctor heads off again.

* * *

After speaking with Osian and Shana. Graham has made his way from the restaurant and back out into the reception area, trying to see if he can spot Akeel or the receptionist from the previous night, after scanning the room he’s about to give up when he sees Akeel leaving the lifts with another member of staff.

“Akeel, can I have a word please?” called out Graham, giving the man a wave.

Akeel frowns, turning to his colleague and saying something before coming over to Graham. “How may I help you Mr O’Brien?”

Graham pulls a face at the title, his dad was Mr O’Brien, he’s just Graham. “I just wanted to ask you about the hotel, how long it’s been here and all, who owns it. That sorta thing.”

Akeel gives him a perplexed look. “Surely you would know the history?” asked Akeel, looking closely at Graham now. “Where did you say you were from?”

“I didn’t.” replied Graham, but there’s an urge to tell him that he struggles to fight. “I’m from… Tharus.” lied Graham, fighting his hardest not to say Earth. What is happening?

“Of course.” Akeel looks at him, his eyes narrowed. “The owner of the Lunar Vale Hotel, Darius Cochran, well his great-grandfather to be precise lead an expedition to this very moon. They learnt so much before returning back to Tharus. Mr Cochran’s forefather fought hard to have another expedition again with the goal of building a settlement.” Graham listens, letting the man explain. “They started with a small base, a few scientists and it built out from there and into the grand Hotel that you see before you.” Akeel gestures around himself. "That was nearly two hundred years ago."

Graham looks around again. “Was it always his goal to build a hotel on the moon?”

“No, not at first. I learnt that in my induction. It was purely a scientific base before he wanted to get as many people up here to experience the wonder.”

Graham tries to keep his face neutral. So with what Akeel just told him, scientific expedition turned resort plaza with the goal of getting as many people as possible up here. He takes a drink of the water bottle again. Yeah, doesn’t sound good.

“Is the owner around?” probed Graham again.

“Do you have a complaint?”

Graham shakes his head. “No, of course not, as you said this is a fantastic hotel, I was just wondering if he stayed here, is all.”

“He travels between Tharus and the moon but he doesn’t take visitors.” replied Akeel, this time looking around, his eyes straying to a figure entering the hotel. “I really must be going now, have a good day Mr O’Brien.”

Graham watches him leave, narrowing his eyes and taking a drink. Right, what else did the Doctor tell him to do? He’s chatted to some guests and that Akeel again, there wasn’t much else he was told to do and he knows he can’t just stand in the reception, waiting for the Doctor to get back from whatever he is doing.

He starts to make his way to the reception to speak to the women from last night but stops when the man that entered the reception places an arm out to him. He turns to him to take in his appearance, dark hair and too pale skin. Like he hasn't seen proper sun in a while. “You must’ve been the guests that arrived last night.” The man sticks out his hand to him. Graham looks down and shakes it, the one from earlier not registering in his head at all about the danger.

“Yeah, that’s us, well one of us. I’m Graham, by the way.” He tries to pull his hand away but frowns when the man doesn’t release, he feels a strange presence. Like the feeling you get when someone is stood behind you, unnerving, he doesn’t like this man. “Who are you if you don't mind me asking?” He can’t get his hand free.

“Oh, I’m nobody in particular.” answered the man, staring at Graham and pulling his hand closer, placing his other one over the top.

“Let my hand go.” warned Graham, his anxiety raising. "Let it go now!" 

"I don't think I will." answered the man, looking directly into Graham’s eyes. “You should come with me, we’ve got something to show you.”

The man narrows his eyes in concentration and Graham feels a pain building in his head. His hand is freed and out of his grasp, Graham pulls it to him, looking down at it before snapping his head back up to the man. His first reaction is to turn the other way, go and find the Doctor but he can’t, his legs are rooted to the spot. The man walks away and Graham tries to fight the urge but his legs move forward, unwillingly. His panicked eyes looks around, seeing the gathered workers and a few of the other guests, watching. He glances at the receptionist, Sidra, as he’s lead past the desk and towards a door. She stares at him as well, so his intuition was correct then, you couldn’t trust her and apparently you can't trust anyone else here when he sees Osian and Shana watching as well. He’s brought back to reality when the stranger speaks again.

Looking back at the man. “What have you done to me?” grunted out Graham, struggling against the unknown force and losing.

“Me, personally? Nothing, this is our Lord's work, one you’ll be very familiar with soon.” replied the stranger with a shrug before glancing backwards, a satisfied smirk on his face. “You really thought you wouldn't go unnoticed? This is bigger than you or your partner.”

“What is bigger? And what stops him when he realises I’m missing?” argued Graham, his faith in the Doctor unwavering, regardless of the face that he has, he's realised that he's still the Doctor. He might argue with him but he trusts him to help.

The man stops, holding a hand up and making Graham pause as well. “Who said you would go missing? That's not our goal with you today." The man looks over the gathered people. "As you can see we’ve been doing this for years, ever since the hotel opened, we've worked our way into the core of Tharus and her people. Of course there have been people like you before and they’ll be people after you as well.” The man starts walking forward again with Graham following behind again like an obedient dog. “You’ll come back none the wiser, you won’t even know we’ve taken you here. You see your partner interest us, we, or should I say,  _He_ is curious about him.”

“What about him?” snapped Graham.

“He isn’t human, is he?” replied the man as Graham glares at him. “Don’t give me that look, it took us a while to realise but once he started drinking the Ichor, well it became apparent. It was only designed for humans, meant to alter them, make you become more than you are.” purred the man, holding the door open for Graham. “You’ll be like us soon enough and you’ll welcome it, it is a gift after all, even if you weren't one of the ones we invited here.”

“What do you mean invited?” asked Graham, anything to stop him from freaking out. The man doesn’t answer as he leads Graham further into the building and away from help. Away from the Doctor.

* * *

He’s slowly making his way back round to the front again, not finding anything new but fully mapping the outside now on the tablet. He looks up to see if the figure from earlier is outside again but he’s by himself now. The Doctor reenters the hotel, briefly looking around at the gathered staff and guests, no more busier than earlier he reckons which is strange for a hotel this size. Either way, time to find Graham and grab a bottle of that water for analyst now.

The Doctor makes his way to the restaurant, entering and looking around, he half expected to find Graham still there if he’s honest with himself, frowning when the man isn’t. That wasn’t the only reason he came here as he makes his way over to the bottled water, picking one up. There’s a slight want for it as he feels a thirst come back, definitely something up with the water, which means he has to find Graham now when he realises that the human man has been left alone with free access to it.

The Doctor wonders around the hotel for any sign of his new friend, his frustration turning to worry. It was his idea to come here and he’s already lost his new human. Sighing and giving up looking he heads over to the reception desk in hope of asking the woman there. Sidra, the woman from the previous night looks up to him on his approach. “How may I help you sir?”

The Doctor frowns down at her. “I’m looking for my partner, have you seen him?”

“I’m sure he’s enjoying the activities we have here, there’s no need to worry.” answered Sidra, that damn smile not leaving her face.

“That’s doesn’t answer the question I asked you.” rebuked the Doctor, frowning down at her.

The Doctor notices that her face has wavered slightly, before the smile is replaced again. “I haven’t seen him, sir.”

The Doctor narrows his eyes down at her. “You’re not very helpful, if he appears, tell him I’m in our room.” declared the Doctor to her unnatural smiling face before turning on his heel and stalking towards the lifts. No, something is wrong. From the little he knows of the man, he wouldn’t just, _vanish_ , without a trace. Not without at least saying where he’s going or he hopes so anyway, truthfully he doesn’t know much about him. Running a hand through his hair, this is just like him, show off, offer an adventure without outlining the details fully, get too caught up in it and get a friend from the future abducted. No, he doesn’t know that just yet.

He jabs a finger at the lift button, turning back to look at the reception. The woman Sidra is talking on a phone now and he narrows his eyes at her before stepping into the lift as it opens. He waits until the door is closed before pulling out the tablet and scanning through the different cameras in hope of finding anything that could hint to where Graham has gone.

* * *

Graham awakens in a darkened room, with a hangover from hell he reckons. “Good, you’re awake again.”

“Yeah, I am.” replied Graham, looking around and then up to the man from earlier. “What exactly did you do to me?” questioned Graham, in a calm manner.

The man kneels down next to him. “We helped cultivate the microbes from the Ichor in you.” Graham looks at him in confusion. “In layman's terms, we sped up the process.” explained the man, poking a finger into Graham’s chest. "It usually takes months but on special occasions we can speed up the process."

“Oh, okay.” said Graham nodding and shrugging. “What do you want me to do then?”

The man stands up and extends a hand to him. Graham takes it again, feeling the comfort from the grip as his mind connects to something _very_ _old_. “It won’t be long until you can hear Him yourself, but at the moment you’ll have to listen through us.” Graham nods again, this should concern him but it doesn’t. Not anymore anyway it seems. The man releases his hand. “You know our Lord is old then, on the subject of old, you came here in something else old, He can sense it, what is it?”

“The TARDIS? That’s the Docs ship, well not the Docs ship but the Doctors ship, it’s confusing.” explained Graham, looking at the man. “You see the Doctor is different people, he’s just another version of the one I know but they both have the same TARDIS.”

“And what does this ship do?” probes the man, further.

“It travels in time and space, it’s pretty fantastic, I couldn’t tell you how it works though but the Doctor could.” revealed Graham without a care. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this though.” He looks down, a frown coming to his face, no something is wrong, _really wrong_. “Who are you?”

“You can call me Mr Steel.” grinned the man as he brings an arm around Graham. “I’m an aid of sorts to our Lord.”

Graham raises a hand to his face, and closing his eyes, he shakes his head. “No, this isn’t right, you’ve done something to me.” muttered Graham, rubbing his hand across his forehead and shrugging off My Steels arm. “Messed with my head or something, I wouldn’t have told you that, shouldn’t have said that.” Graham staggers away, tiredness hitting his limbs. “What.. have you… done to me?” snapped Graham, clenching his hands.

“We’ve made you better, it’s a gift. You won’t ever have to worry about that pesky cancer coming back now Graham, from Earth.”

Graham pales considerably. “How could you know that?” whispered Graham, dropping to his knees, weakened.

“Your body showed us all we needed to know. You’re from Earth and she has many humans doesn’t she? Ripe for the taking for His greatness, more than a settlement like Tharus could ever offer us really.” said Mr Steel, sighing. "You see, Tharus was just a test really, our main goal is a world like yours, a few billion humans who love buying bottled water living on it."

“Why are you telling me this now?”

Mr Steel laughs. “Because you won’t even remember this conversation, you’ll be you back out there like nothing happened. Only you’ll have a different set of orders to carry out.” Mr Steel taps Graham on the side of the head before kneeling down next to him. “You’re orders are to watch over your friend, you don’t have to report to us, we’ll know what he knows when he tells you.” explained Mr Steel. “You’ll be our little sleeper agent, ready for activation when the time is right. In the meantime we have his ship to secure, that TARDIS, can’t have him leaving in it.”

Graham stares back at Mr Steel, a horrified feeling growing and a pressure building in his head as he slips into blissful unconsciousness again. Mr Steel stands up, walking from the room and speaking to a strange looking creature. “Move him to the reception, let him wake up in one of the chairs, he knows what he needs to do.” The creature ambles into the room, grabbing Graham by the legs and dragging him away as Mr Steel watches on, closing his eyes has a dark presence speaks to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so I needed to get those three chapters out of the way before we head back to Thirteen and Fam.  
> Cause someone *cough* The Doctor *cough* has something horrifying to remember, and suddenly she realises that Graham isn't as fine as she thought and that the Earth is in danger..  
> If you want to know what Mr Steel looks like and who he's sorta based on, search Mr Morden from Babylon 5.


End file.
